There were two sets of stocks in Tunstall in the 1840s. One set was in front of the steps leading to the market hall on the ground floor of the Courthouse in Market Square (Tower Square). The other set of stocks was outside the Police Station in High Street.
As a Museum Assistant who once got sent outsideof her primary school classroom for making a full stop too big, I am well-versed with just and fair punishment. With this in mind, this blog will be exploring the past use of stocks in towns and villages near Buxton to deter misbehaviour and facilitate punishment.
Derbyshire is home to several village stocks,scattered throughout its picturesque villages. The stocks at Chapel-en-le-Frith, for instance, are said to date from the Cromwellian period and are located on the town’s historic Market Place. The stocks currently viewable to visitors and residents, however, date from the eighteenth century. As the stocks are made from woodthey are naturally subject to decay and rotting, thus have been replaced overtime.
Since the medieval period to the nineteenth century, stocks have been used to…
View original post 507 more words
North Staffordshire Heritage 