Keith Henson - Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in York

THE MAKING OF Series

The Making of series is a new collection of local histories, brought to you by Wharncliffe Books. This series is not intended to be a chronological account of each area, but instead it highlights the prominent factors, which bring to life the development and character of a town, city or area. These highly illustrated books contain illuminating snapshots captivating the history and nostalgia of the locality.

Making of Manchester, Mike Fletcher 1 903425 32 8 9.99

Making of the South Yorkshire Landscape , Melvyn Jones 1 871647 53 6 9.95

Making of the West Yorkshire Landscape , Anthony Silson 1 903425 31 X 9.99

Published November 2003

ASPECTS Series

With over 32 books currently available in Series, Aspects books are unique in that they allow many local authors and historians to contribute articles to each book. Articles are made up from a collection of nostalgic and historical pieces relevant to an area, each of which is highly illustrated.

Aspects of York , Alan Whitworth 1 871647 83 5 9.95

Aspects of the Yorkshire Coast , Alan Whitworth 1 871647 54 1 9.95

Aspects of the Yorkshire Coast 2 , Alan Whitworth 1 871647 79 7 9.95

FOUL DEEDS AND SUSPICIOUS DEATHS Series

Each book will take the reader into the darker side of their town; covering stories that once shocked, horrified and captivated the people who lived there. From the strange to the macabre, to murder and mystery, the authors examine those cases, analysing both motive and consequence, alongside the social conditions prevalent at the time.

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Blackburn & Hyndburn , Stephen Greenhalgh

1 903425 18 2 9.99

Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths In and Around Chesterfield , Geoffrey Sadler

1 903425 30 1 9.99

Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths In and Around Rotherham , Kevin Turton

1 903425 18 2 9.99

Foul Deeds on the Yorkshire Coast , Alan Whitworth

1 903425 01 8 9.99

Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths In and Around The Tees , Maureen Anderson

1 903425 07 7 9.99

Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Wakefield , Kate Taylor 1 903425 48 4 9.99

Forthcoming Foul Deeds

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths In Leeds, David Goodman

1 903425 08 5, 9.99, Published September 2003

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths In and Around Durham, Maureen Anderson

1 903425 46 8, 9.99 Published October 2003

Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Nottingham, Kevin Turton

1 903425 35 2, 9.99, Published October 2003

More Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Wakefield , Kate Taylor

1 903425 48 4, 9.99, Published November 2003

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For CJ, Paige and Willa

Thanks for the patience.

All the wickedness of the world is print to him.

Mrs Gamp in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzelwit

(Charles Dickens)

First Published in 2003 by
Wharncliffe Books
an imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Limited,
47 Church Street, Barnsley,
South Yorkshire. S70 2AS

Copyright Keith Henson 2003

For up-to-date information on other titles produced under the Wharncliffe imprint, please telephone or write to:

Wharncliffe Books
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ISBN: 1-903425-33-6
eISBN 9781783038077

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cover illustration: Front The Author in York. Paige and Willa Henson
Back The Shambles, c.1900. Authors collection

Printed in the United Kingdom by
CPI UK

Yorks Guildhall, for centuries the centre of local government and justice. The Author

Chapter 1

The Where and The How

A Brief Look at Capital Punishment

T here is a story that tells of a shipwrecked mariner, who, having been washed ashore, scrambles up a cliff in search of help. The first sight that greets him is the stark silhouette of a gallows scaffold and the mariner falls to his knees and thanks God that he finds himself in a Christian country. In England, he would not have had far to travel to find more of these Christian symbols. The country had embraced Saxon King Athelstans decree that said Let him be smitten so that his neck breaks, and in those early days the punishment was as likely to be carried out by men of the cloth as any government.

Among the franchises granted to the monasteries in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is one that reads Furca et Fossa, in other words Gallows and Pit. The rope for a man; the pit of water for drowning a woman. The Abbots gave with one hand and took with the other. Bound by church law to offer refuge for nine days to thieves, they were most likely to be the ones to hang them also. The privilege of infanthief , that is to punish those found guilty of stealing, nearly always resulted in hanging, regardless of the value of the stolen item.

The church court at York dealt with the most serious of cases and the Archbishop had a gallows erected on the Foss Bridge in the thirteenth century, while the Dean and Chapter operated a structure at the junction of the Wiggington and Haxby roads, where Clarence Gardens stand today. The Abbott of St Marys handed out punishment from a scaffold on the road known today as Burton Stone Lane and it was his inefficient operation that prompted the bailiffs of York to construct a scaffold of their own, to the south of the city on a stretch of common land called the Knavesmire. It was completed on 7 March 1379 and they gave it a name synonymous with executions in London since the thirteenth century Tyburn.

It became a name to be feared, both in the north and the south and many a thief and murderer ended his days swinging from a rope on the Knavesmire. Some of Yorks most enduring images arose from that place. Such as John Nevison, the Gentleman Highwayman, bound in chains, claiming the Kings pardon in vain and Dick Turpin offering an ivory whistle to his executioner before leaping from the cart to his death. One who inspired both poets and novelists was Eugene Aram, the famous murderer of Knaresborough, who was taken half dead to swing from the Three-legged Mare, as the tri-cornered scaffold became known.

The ruins of St Marys Abbey. The Author