Punished in Public Many years ago, an elderly man from Matlock came across a friend sitting in the town stocks and asked him why he was there. The conversation ran: “Oh I’ve only been clouting our Liz.” “Why man, they conna put thee in for wife clouting.” “Canna they? Ah but tha sees, they has done. That licks thee!” As the parish constable of Hathersage noted, stocks encouraged “certain of the baser and lewd people in the village, to throw refuse at the prisoner”. Some public punishments were even more entertaining. Argumentative and nagging women were quietened down by a few dips in the ducking stool, or cuckstoole. This was a seat attached to one end of a post, like half a seesaw. It was set up beside a river or pond and the victim was lowered up and down into the water to cool her temper. Down in the deep the stool descends, But here at first we miss our ends ... No brawling wives, no furious wenches, No fire so hot but water quenches. (From an 18th-century poem.) In 1680 ten shillings (50p) was spent on mending the cuckstoole and chair at Bakewell. Read More >> More Information Customs observed in 1817 More Pictures Crime & Punishment