The Gallows, where were they?

[Harry1000]

Where can I find out where any sites of public execution were in Sheffield? I know Spence Broughton was gibbetted on Attercliffe common but wasn't he hung elsewhere? York? Did old Sheffielders ever execute people more closer to home, Paradise Square perhaps?

[slh73]

didnt the Noose and Gibbet pub near the arena get its name for that reason?

[Cycleracer]

I believe they were hanged in Leeds, Armley jail.

[Harry1000]

Yep, named after Spence's demise.

[bjshooter]

didnt the Noose and Gibbet pub near the arena get its name for that reason?

 

Wasn't the last person to be hung there called Broughton and thats why they call it Broughton lane?

[Little_Alex]

Armley was the place where people from this area were hanged in the 1800's onwards. I seem to recall from my schooldays I was told that Broughton lane was where the gallows were. The Noose and Gibbet pub is not too far away too so it could well be true. I'd like to know more

[loopy]

http://www.made-in-sheffield.com/people/spencebroughton.htm

[hutch]

Where can I find out where any sites of public execution were in Sheffield? I know Spence Broughton was gibbetted on Attercliffe common but wasn't he hung elsewhere? York? Did old Sheffielders ever execute people more closer to home, Paradise Square perhaps?[/quote In the R E LEADER BOOK OF 1876 REMINISCENCES OF OLD SHEFFIELD,It Quotes that a massive block of oak18inches square passing through a framework 10ft long 1ft square firmley embedded in the ground thought to be Broughtons gibbet of 1792,these were found opposite the Yellow lion Clifton st Attercliffe common when excavating for cellars in 1867, it also adds that the crowds blocked Attercliffe common the day of the excecution.

[Greybeard]

I don't believe there are any recorded executions in Sheffield. Two people were gibbeted, - Frank Fearn on Wadsley Common in 1783 and Spence Broughton on Attercliffe Common in 1792. Both were executed in York where they were tried and convicted.

 

The bodies were suspended in chains from the gibbet with the arms and legs dangling so as to sway in the wind. Fearn's remains fell out of the chains on Christmas day 1797 but Broughton is supposed to have still been hanging around in 1817

[Falls]

I don't believe there are any recorded executions in Sheffield. Two people were gibbeted, - Frank Fearn on Wadsley Common in 1783 and Spence Broughton on Attercliffe Common in 1792. Both were executed in York where they were tried and convicted.

 

The bodies were suspended in chains from the gibbet with the arms and legs dangling so as to sway in the wind. Fearn's remains fell out of the chains on Christmas day 1797 but Broughton is supposed to have still been hanging around in 1817

 

Hi Greybeard

 

I also think that most excecutions of local fellons, up to the begining of the nineteenth century, was carried out at York because thats where the Assizes were held. When Assizes were established in Leeds, then people in the Sheffield area, accused of murder were tried there, and if convicted, hanged at Armley Jail in Leeds. This was still the procedure when I was growing up in Sheffield. Sheffield Assizes ( don't know what they call them now) on Castle Street was a comparatively recent development.

 

Incidentally, when kids of my generation used to misbehave, they were likely to be threatened with "The Drop o' York". Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't York one of the earliest places - perhaps not the first place - where the victim was first "dropped" before the noose tightened and therefore broke the victim's neck. Before that, most peole who were hung actually died from strangulation.

 

And with that happy thought, I will wish you all a good evening/morning.