St Peter's Village Stocks - St Peter's, Broadstairs, Kent.
Posted by: 
MeerRescue
N 51° 21.929 E 001° 25.162
31U E 389964 N 5691655
This set of Stocks is sited in Hopeville Avenue,St Peter's, Broadstairs, Kent.
Waymark Code: WMEMBB
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/13/2012
Views: 4
Apparently the good people of St Peter's are effectively
complying with the law which (since 1405) has obliged every village to install
and maintain a set of stocks. That law has never been repealed and, in theory,
the stocks remain on the statute books as a judicial punishment in England and
Wales!
The reintroduction of the stocks in St Peter's was apparently the
brainchild of Brian Sleightholm, Chairman of
St Peter's Village Tour,
who wanted an authentic set of Stocks designed and built for the village
green, but there is no such thing as an authentic design for stocks. Apparently,
a medieval carpenter commissioned to make a set of stocks would not have worked
from a blueprint, not least because he would have been illiterate. In practice
he is likely to have copied the design of existing stocks in a nearby village
(probably the extent of his travels). That is exactly what Brian Sleightholm
did. St Peter's stocks are based on those at Monkton village, which makes them
"authentic" as any other stocks.
The new stocks were unveiled with due ceremony on 31 March 2001.
A plaque on the stocks reads;
ST PETER'S / VILLAGE STOCKS.
In 1405AD an act of / parliament was passed / - which has never /
been repealed - / requiring every village to / have a set of
Stocks. / In view of this / St Peter's Village Stocks / were reinstated by /
Thanet District Council / in 2001.
Stocks were used until / the 1870's for offences / such as
drunkenness, / giving false measure, / spreading scandal, / dressing immodestly,
/ and failing to attend / Church services.