A tumbrel (alternatively tumbril) is a two-wheeled

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

or wagon typically designed to be hauled by a single horse or ox. Their original use was for agricultural work; in particular they were associated with carrying manure. Their most infamous use was taking prisoners to the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

during the French Revolution. They were also used by the military for hauling supplies. In this use, the carts were sometimes covered. The two wheels allowed the cart to be tilted to discharge its load more easily. Many tumbrels also had hinged tailboards for the same reason. The word is also used as a name for the

cucking stool Ducking stools or cucking stools were chairs formerly used for punishment of disorderly women, scolds, and dishonest tradesmen in medieval Europe and elsewhere at later times. The ducking-stool was a form of , or "women's punishment", as refer ...

and for a type of balancing scale used in medieval times to check the weight of coins.

References

Carts Animal-powered vehicles {{vehicle-stub