158 



" Justice in Warminster in the Olden Time" 



paper, vol. i., Wilts Magazine,) Warminster deserves honourable 

 mention. There were only the stocks : two in front of the old 

 Town Hall, one on Bell Hill, one at Upton Scudamore. These, at 

 least in more recent years, were chiefly used for those who would 

 not go to Church. There were no branks or ducking-stools for 

 scolding ladies ! Howard was not wanted here, 1 as there was no 

 prison, merely a lock-up or blind-house, and prisoners during the 

 quarter sessions were kept in a malthouse, near the Town Hall. 



The old Town Hall, in which the assizes of 1666 were held, was 

 where the King's Arms stands now, but it has entirely disappeared. 



In later years, possibly 1711, a building was erected in the mid- 

 street, near the Chapel of St. Lawrence. Here is a drawing. More 

 of a market than a court, a block to traffic. It was removed in the 

 year 1851, when the present building was erected at the sole expense 

 of that munificent nobleman, Thomas, Marquis of Bath. The 

 foundation stone of it was laid on the same day as that of Christ 

 Church, Warminster, by Thomas Thipps, Esq., Chairman of Quarter 

 Sessions. 



It was the custom formerly to hang people publicly near the scene 

 of their crimes. 



The Lord of Warminster had a gallows here in 1275. Position 

 not known. 



Amongst the modes of punishment will be remembered the hideous 

 judgment peine forte and dure, only abolished a century since. (For 

 a copy see note, p. 257, vol. xiii., of this Magazine?) It was used for 

 those who would not plead but stood mute as of malice. An instance 

 occurs of its use in 1726, and in 1658 Major Strangeways was pressed 

 to death for refusing to plead to a charge of murdering his brother-in- 

 law. The stone was a rough one, and turned by some friend upon 

 his heart the more speedily to terminate his sufferings. I find the 

 following sentence in the Western Circuit Order Book: " Rebecca 

 Donnington for poisoning her husband (summer assize Salisbury 

 1782). To be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution Saturday 



1 His visit to Salisbury and finding the debtor prisoners there fastened to the 

 links of a chain by padlocks, outside the gaol ; the chain fixed in the wall, the 

 prisoners dragging each other about to sell nuts, &c, to passers by will be re- 

 membered. 



