Stocks

Stocks, an apparatus of wood much used in former times in England for the punishment of petty offenders. The culprit was placed on a bench, with his ankles fastened in holes under a movable board, and allowed to remain there for an hour or two. The period of their first introduction is uncertain, but in the second Statute of Labourers, 25 Edw. III., 1350, provision is made for applying the stocks to unruly artificers; and in 1376 the Commons prayed Edward III. that stocks should be established in every village. Each parish had in later times its stocks, often close to the church-yard; and, though the last in London (St Clement Danes, Strand) were removed in 1826, many may still be seen in the country. Indeed the punishment was used so late as 1858 at Colchester, 1863 at Tavistock, and 1865 at Ringly. Combined with the stocks was often a whipping-post for the flagellation of vagrants.