Apparently, these were used back in the day to punish “scolding wives” or people accused of gossiping and other “social offences.”
This photo’s from around 1900, wild to think something like this still existed that late. Did you know about these? It’s such a strange and eerie part of English history.

(📸 Credit: @gotweird on Instagram)

by CloudBookmark

11 comments

  1. Right about here: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/ATwA32fmSjzjiDyC8](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ATwA32fmSjzjiDyC8) which is the Town Hall. Fun fact, it’s the smallest community by population with a Town Council. It’s really dinky.

    Photo taken from just across the Great Stour.

    It has an interesting history, and its place in history is linked with the nearby Canterbury.

  2. I thought these were from witch trials, if they float they are innocent and all that..

  3. Some still exist now….

    This photo is clearly posed and it wasn’t in use as a punishment then!

  5. The Fordwich Arms is hands down one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Check it out if you’re ever in the area!

  6. No, they were originally from the medieval ‘witch hunting’ era. There is a ducking stool further up the Stour in Canterbury. You can see it from the bridge over the river on the High St. They were a life-or-death trial for witchcraft, not a punishment for ‘social offences’. If a woman survived she was guilty and put to death, if she drowned she was innocent, but too late…

  7. This is for gossiping? Ah damn, I’d have spent all my life in this thing

  8. That looks like a dock crane for loading or unloading freight off a canal boat, which were still very much in use in the era of photographs. Could it have been a joke photo rather than a serious historical recreation?

  9. OK we did the nose. Do you know what else floats?

  10. Had dinner in the George & Dragon in Fordwich the other night, lovely pub. No witches that I could see. Unless my eyes deceive me, i’m pretty sure that building is now the Fordwich Town Hall

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