Beacon Hill's Dark & Gristly History - Gibbeting Uk
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- Beacon Hill where is that Rob?
good question
well we are in Halifax
and I am actually on my way to meet my lass at shibden park home of Anne Lister
but before I have a coffee at shibden Park I just want to have a look at Beacon Hill
So let's take a walk up there we should be able to see all of Halifax from this vantage Point
So this route that I'm working today is actually a mediaeval route used by many including transporting wool it was also used by the troops in the English Civil War
But the reason I wanted to visit this location and I have done for awhile
is to just get a feel of the location
because it has a dark history
People were hung in Chains up here
or as it was also known gibbeted
Now I'm not saying that this is something you are unaware of
but let's just really think about this barbaric form of punishment that took place right here on Beacon Hill
Gibbeting was basically locking criminals in human chipped cages and hanging them up for display in public areas as a warning to others the gibbet itself refers to the wooden structure from which the cage was hung
now it must cases criminals were executed prior being gibbeted
but occasionally criminals were gibbeted alive and left to die of exposure and starvation
it originated in mediaeval times that was really popular in the 1740s in the UK
now the victims of gibbeting were always men since female corpses were in high demand from surgeons and anatomists
Look For A Definition Of Anatomists
So female criminals were always dissected rather than gibbeted
So it seems crazy that this would be going on in the 1740s
but it was actually a great spectacle they would be crowds of happy people Gathering to see it sometimes thousands of people so it was obviously quite entertaining mercarb fascination
Now apparently this smell was unbearable and sometimes there was more than one body gibbeted at any one time and they were left to rot for years sometimes 8 years have red basically until the the clothes rotted off the body
People who live near them would have to put up with the stench and the ruinous as the birds and bugs eat their corpses
Hope you're enjoying the blog so far and the scenery if nothing else
I'm sure you have all come across a gibbet Street as you've travelled around the UK
maybe you have lived on a gibbet Street or actually I've still living on a gibbet Street
you can be pretty sure that in the past that street led to gibbet
let me know in the comment section below if you live on a gibbet Street or have done or if you have a debit story a gibbet it near you maybe I will go and visit that
I actually read somewhere that the authorities made bodies difficult to remove by hanging them from 34 posts and on one occasion they even studded a post with 12000 nails to keep it from being torn down
So the basics of gibbeting was to punish the criminal in life and also in death
And of course the public display of gibbeting would demonstrate to would-be criminals that breaking the law was just not worth it
Now you might have seen a frog that added some time back on the Cragg Vale coiners the counterfeiting gang that shaved the edge of the coins and made new coins I'll leave a link to that flog in the description below you can check that out but that is one of the reasons I came up here to have a look and get a feel of the place regarding the gibbeting because they were two of the corners actually gibbeted here
Robert Thomas and Matthew Normanton in the late 1700s
They were hung at York and their bodies transported in irons to hang on the gibbet here on Beacon Hill above Halifax their hand fixed so as to point towards the scene of the Crime I'm and a hung here for over 8 years unbelievable
The great ghost story writer, M.R. James wrote a superb short story featuring a gibbet, called 'A View From A Hill'.
It also features murky details of what happened to those that were gibbeted, and an odd pair of binoculars, that allow a viewer to see into the past.
Lovely video, as always. Thank you.
Ey up …. Sounds like a great story book…. Thank you for this 👍👍👍…. Lovin the idea of the binoculars that can see into the past … 👍👍👍
Thanks for the history lesson! I had to read up to see if the practice of gibbeting was used in Australia. Sure enough, not to be outdone , it was practiced in Australia five years after it ceased in England. We were always a little behind.😀
Thanks so much for your comments Jeff 👍👍👍
wow.... I must admit, I had not heard of the term Gibbet.. this was great... a bright fresh morning beautiful scenes.. Always nice to see your smile... Very informative, I enjoyed it so much.. Thanks Rob.. see you next time. Hope you had a nice visit with the Grandkids...
Thanks as always for your comments…. And yes we had fun with the kids 👍👍👍
Thanks Rob - good blog of Beacon Hill, although I thought the Halifax Gibbet was the guillotine used to deter the cloth thieves from stealing cloth from the cottage industry tenterhooks? Halifax developed the guillotine before the French! There’s good coverage of this at Bankfield Museum at Akroyd and also a wooden replica on Gibbet Street with a named list of all of the executions and why!
Hi Peter …. Glad you enjoyed my little look at Beacon hill…👍….. thanks for commenting 👍….. I believe the Gibbet refers to the apparatus or scaffolding used for hanging or hanging in chains…. And probably the structure that was on Gibbet street….
Yes it does seem to be an early guillotine …. I hope to go have a closer look sometime 👍…. Thank you so much for watching Peter 👍👍👍
From Wikipedia. A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold), but gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals.
Great views over Halifax mate....imagine being strung up in one of those cages...all flesh removed by the Crows until just bones remained ....bleaching in the sun....makes me shiver
Ey up …. Thanks for commenting 👍…. Yes its a strangely fascinating subject…. I enjoyed the little hike to Beacon Hill and im happy you enjoyed it too 👍👍👍
It is beacon to light has a warning
It is a beacon to light as a warning
Gibbet Street is the longest street in Halifax, it runs from Swine Market to Highroad Well, a distance of 2544 metres. As said before, the Halifax Gibbet was a beheading device, the wooden structure was 15ft tall, the axe blade was mounted beneath a large solid wooden block within the framework. The Halifax Gibbet was used between 1286 and 1650, a reconstruction of the Gibbet was erected around 1974, it is located on the original site at the junction of Gibbet Street and Bedford Street North. There is a metal plaque on the site with the names of 53 felons who were beheaded by the Gibbet, the original blade is on show at Bankfield Museum in Boothtown, about half a mile from Halifax Town Hall.
The gibbet in Halifax is similar to a guillotine there is a replica located in the place it was originally stood on Gibbet street Halifax
Ey up Andy…. I keep looking out for the replica Gibbet as i pass regularly… i must be blind…. Its just amazing to think that’s what went on … and not that long ago…. Thanks for taking the time to comment Andy much appreciated 👍👍👍
@@RobertJohnKerrUK Not a problem Thank you for showing off my stunning home town. I love to see videos covering Calderdale. I had just a couple of days ago watched a video abut the Wakefield gate. Keep up the good work.
Interesting info there Rob, really enjoyed this Vlog. Like u say this occurred really not that long ago!
Cheers pal…. I have been enjoying your vlogs buddy…. 👍👍👍
@@RobertJohnKerrUK thanks Rob, I always love your videos. I’d love to do a compilation video with u in the summer 👍🏻. A walk around Marsden moor or something.
Im sure we can do that…. It will be great to meet you 👍👍👍
@@RobertJohnKerrUK yes Rob, would be good to meet up
Hi Rob. Good to pick a nice bright day to visit somewhere with such a macabre past! Not one for a night hike 😁 All the best👍
Hello.
I've stumbled upon your channel when doing a bit of research for my next hike and wild camp. Great videos 👍
Thanks for watching
@@RobertJohnKerrUK just watched your story about the coiner's and King Hartley because I'm doing a hike/wild camp talking about the gallows pole. Great video, both of them 👍
Very informative I've never heard of gibbering, beautiful scenery.
Pretty gruesome don’t you think?….
Thanks for commenting…. Glad you enjoyed it 👍👍👍
Nice Vlog and story. You have a wonderful week.
Thank you….. I hope your week is fun too…. Thanks for commenting 👍👍👍
When the bodies of executed criminals were hung in chains their bodies were tarred so they weren't exposed to the air and wouldn't rot. This is what happened to the Crag Vale coiners after they were hung at York.
Ey up thanks for this…… its all very interesting…. And not that long ago in the grand scheme of things…. 👍👍👍
@@RobertJohnKerrUK You're welcome. By the way, did you know that on the northern edge of Beacon Hill there's a level earthwork platform that was made specifically as a place to hang the coiners' bodies ? (they believed in *punishment* in those days !)
It must have taken quite a lot of work to construct, and you can clearly make it out from the Haley Hill area, especially late on sunny afternoons when the light throws shadows.
Anyway, it was made so they'd be right on the skyline when anyone looked up from Halifax, which was mostly centred around the area of the church at that time.
Obviously a reminder to the townsfolk to behave themselves !
There is a pub near the gibbet called the running man. Because if someone escaped and made it to that spot
Were deemed innocent
Hi Ron…. Thanks for commenting pal👍…. I might go have a look 👀 ….👍👍👍
It's at the bottom of pellon lane
Hi Robert John Kerr my name is marcus Craig king from south west wales in Pembrokeshire in Haverfordwest
Errmmm, nope, that wasn't the gibbet...
Love it😂🤣😂…… That’s it…..????…..”” nope that wasn’t the gibbet…””
Ermmmmm thanks for commenting 🤣😂🤣
The gate is locked because of crack in ceiling
It has now been repaired and reopened