Il8 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



ing pieces (/. <?., rolls) of cloth. The old Piece Hill, or cloth 

 merchants' market, is still extant, but has been spoiled by an admin- 

 istration regardless of old associations. J. H. W. 

 [See « Halifax Law,' 8 th S. viii. 368, 410 ; ix. 92, 353.] 



Gibbet Hill seems a common name for hills, at any rate in 

 some parts of England. I can recall two so named within a com- 

 paratively short distance from one another — viz., Gibbet Hill, a 

 short distance outside Coventry, on the Kenilworth road, and 

 Gibbet Hill, near Lutterworth, on which hill the road from that 

 place to Rugby crosses that old Roman road called the Watling 

 Street. In both of these cases it is traditionally said that gallows 

 were formerly erected by the roadside at the summits of the hills. 



G. H. P. 



Although the following brief extract from that interesting book, 

 " Historical Essays from Paris, translated from the French of M. de 

 Saintfoix," 1767, Vol. i. p. 121, does not afford a direct answer to 

 the query of S. A. G., yet it is suggestive, and tends to throw some 

 light on the subject: — 



" Gibet. A corrupt word from Gebel, which signifies in Arabic a 

 mountain. In former times, criminals were executed in France 

 upon high grounds, that the punishment inflicted might be seen at 

 a great distance." W. I. R. V. 



SOME ROADS AND STREETS. 



TlIE roads in Groton were laid out at first to meet the needs 

 of individual families. The use of them was confined to the 

 inhabitants, as there was no other public to accommodate. 

 The various house-lots had been selected by their owners 

 with reference to convenience for tillage, or some other local 

 advantage; and these were to be connected by highways. 

 The roads originally were of great width, often being four or 

 six rods wide, and the bends and turns in them, for the most 

 part, were owing to good reasons. At the present time even, 

 in some places, the highway still shows the original width of 

 six rods. Perhaps a tree or some other obstruction would 



