Stocks were in general use from medieval times or before. They were set up in a public place, either at the entrance to a town or on a village green. No village was considered complete without its stocks as they were essential to law and order.

According to the severity of the crime, the offender would be sentenced to spend a number of hours, or even days, clamped in the stocks.The stocks were used to punish minor offences such as petty stealing, drunkenness and vagrancy. For instance, in 1605 every person convicted of drunkenness was either fined five shillings or put in the stocks for six hours. Wood stealers might well have been punished by two days in the stocks. Often prisoners were taunted and laughed at by onlookers. Not only were stocks used as a mode of punishment and show of public disapproval, but also as a means of securing all offenders before they were dealt with officially.

The old village stocks are located on the opposite side of the road from the Church tower. No record of their construction can be found but they probably date from the early 17th century. The stone posts have grooves on their inner faces, into which are slotted two tiers of foot holes, to secure the prisoner by his ankles.

two views of the stocks today behind security fencing