Monday, April 17, 2006

I know this is not a sign but ...

Why are there FIVE holes in these ancient stocks? Don't legs come in pairs?

[Spotted under the Buttercross at Oakham, 16 April 2006]

10 comments:

kc masterpiece said...

Hi! First time commenter.
That looks like maybe it was designed to hold the head, arms, and legs of a person. Talk about uncomfortable.

Anonymous said...

I believe those are not arm or leg holes, but head holes.

Dave C said...

maybe it was for the rare (or, not so rare) alien they found

Andy R. Terrel said...

well you wouldn't want to prisoners to be touching!!!

Elizabeth said...

Yeah, I think they lined people up together and stuck their heads through. Although they did not leave very much space so you were practically on top of your neighbor.

Murray said...

If they are neck hole, one you would need a small neck and two you would have to lie on your side to not bang shoulders with your neighbours. Definitely NOT neck holes.

Helene said...

perhaps they only really needed enough for 2 people but thought there was space to add an extra hole so that they could stick someones arm through to keep them there if need be... the other thing is that you could put people in on either side... so that there was more room for bodies right?!? I still think the holes are too small for necks though...

great blog! cheers! Kate

lazarou said...

perhaps a particularly naughty one-legged man lived there, and they reserved a place for him.

Anonymous said...

This blog looks long dead, but... I think it's for heads... the distance probably messed up the shot or something. Awesome site. Love it.

Unknown said...

It's hard to tell the scale from the picture, but if I was faced with the problem of overly wide shouldered prisoners for the stocks, I would have them alternate, so the two on the end and the one in the middle would put their heads through from one side, and the other two from the other.