Caxton Gibbet

Caxton, a small village west of Cambridge is known for its famous gibbet pictured here:

 

 

This is not the original gibbet, but a reconstruction from around 1900 which used to stand outside the now disappeared inn of the same name. Rather than a traditional gallows, used for hanging, the gibbet was an altogether more macabre punishment.

 

"Gibbeting was the punishment for some capital offences including highway robbery. An iron cage would have hung from the wooden arm of the original gibbet. Here criminals were hung, imprisoned in the cage until they were dead. The head was clamped at the top to prevent tired legs from resting and the person would slowly starve to death, or in the winter succumb to exposure. The body would remain suspended for some time after death as a warning to others.". (Source: cprs.org.uk)

 

There are no primary sources indicating that the death penalty was actually carried out at Caxton. It seems that as Caxton had one of the only two post offices in the country, there would have been a high incidence of highway robbery. Local Antiquarian, William Cole (1714-1782) is believed to have referred to Caxton when he wrote this:

 

"About 1753 or 1754 the son of Mrs. Gatward being convicted of robbing the Mail was hanged in chains on the Great Road. I saw him hanging in a scarlet coat after he had hung 2 or 4 months it is supposed that the screw was filed which supported him and that he fell in the first high wind after."

 

This site in Caxton is shortly going to become a MacDonald's. Some would prefer the gibbet.

 



The Chalybeate at Knappwell

I was delighted to find recently that Ordinance Survey maps were available on line.
I was looking for a particular footpath that ran adjacent to some woods that were filled with old cars from the 1930s (see pic).

While looking at the map for my area, I was amazed to see how much local history there was within a five mile radius.
One interesting discovery was the mention of an ancient well in woods near the Cambridgeshire village of Knapwell. The well is said to have healing properties and its water is reddish in colour. Modern day technology would ascribe this to the nitrates within the ground that the water springs up from. They didnt know that 1000 years ago, they just knew it made you better if you were ill. Such well often were termed "Holywells"
I decided to find it out of interest. Could I? No! I must have spent a good two hours wandering round the woods in vain. It was a bit like the Blair Witch project as well.

Here is a quote from Wiki:

"Early in the 17th century, chalybeate water was said to have health-giving properties and many people have promoted its qualities. Dudley North, 3rd Baron North discovered the chalybeate spring at Tunbridge Wells in 1606. Dudley North’s physician claimed that the waters contained ‘vitriol’ and the waters of Tunbridge Wells could cure:

"the colic, the melancholy, and the vapours; it made the lean fat, the fat lean; it killed flat worms in the belly, loosened the clammy humours of the body, and dried the over-moist brain."

He also apparently said, in verse:

"These waters youth in age renew

Strength to the weak and sickly add

Give the pale cheek a rosy hue

And cheerful spirits to the sad."

The English physician Thomas Sydenham prescribed chalybeate waters for hysteria"

Here is the Blair Witch's house: