Execution: A History of Capital Punishment in Britain by Simon Webb Read Free Book Online Page B

particular skill on the part of the executioner. In its simplest form, all that is needed is a length of rope and a convenient tree. Once the condemned man has been tied up, all that is necessary is to throw the rope over a branch, tie it round the neck of the victim and then haul him into the air to strangle. This, indeed, is how most hangings were carried out in the years following the Norman Conquest. It was not long though, before various refinements were developed. For one thing, it was thought necessary to conduct executions, for their deterrent effect, in cities and towns. For this purpose, it was found more convenient to erect a wooden framework, both to make the suspension of the felon easier, but also to ensure that his death throes could be more easily seen by the large crowds who gathered for such events. This was, of course, the origin of the gallows. These early gallows were little more than upright wooden posts linked by a crosspiece. There was no sort of mechanism – that came a good deal later. The rope would be of such a length as to suspend the criminal a good way from the ground and they would be made to climb a ladder propped up against the gallows. The noose would be secured and the ladder simply twisted in order to precipitate the condemned man or woman into eternity. One explanation for the superstitious belief that walking beneath a ladder is unlucky dates from these primitive hangings. Walking beneath the ladder was the last thing which a condemned man did before his death. Unlucky indeed! Even after the introduction of custom-built frameworks, trees continued to be used for hanging well into the eighteenth century. The execution of Mary Blandy, at Oxford in 1752, was accomplished by wedging a stout piece of timber between two adjacent trees and hanging the woman from this.
    I said earlier that executions were conducted in towns and villages, but this is not strictly accurate. It would be more correct to say that they were carried out on the edges of towns. For the full, deterrent effect, one wanted as many spectators as possible, and this meant that the narrow streets of a medieval town might not accommodate them all. On the other hand, there is no point in stringing up a man in some remote spot, miles from any human habitation. The most popular spot for the gallows was therefore just outside a town, where there was plenty of room for the crowds to gather, in a place that could easily be accessed on foot. It was this reasoning which led to the establishment of perhaps the most famous gallows of all, that of Tyburn, which was erected on the outskirts of London.
    Deaths from hanging of this sort almost invariably resulted from strangulation, rather than the clean breaking of the neck, which became the aim of hanging in the late nineteenth century. Strangling to death on the end of a rope is a slow and distressing business. Death can take up to half an hour and, until the loss of consciousness, the victim suffers appallingly. Reflexive voiding of urine almost invariably occurs, which gave rise to a number of coarse sayings in connection with hanging; for example, ‘A man will piss when he cannot whistle’ and also, ‘There’s no more to a hanging than a wry neck and a wet pair of breeches.’
    Death on the gallows through slow strangulation might have been hideous, but it provided a tiny spark of hope to those undergoing it. This was the chance that a person might, under some circumstances, survive the operation. We shall in later chapters see examples of this, but we look now at the earliest recorded account of this phenomenon, that of the Welsh rebel, William Cragh.
    In the late thirteenth century, Edward I fought various campaigns against the Welsh, who were opposed to English rule of their country. One of those who was captured, after some bitter fighting, was William Cragh (also known as William the Scabby and William ap Rhys). He was accused of killing thirteen men and after a brief trial,