The last two men in Boston Stocks

The Stocks on Bargate green are a grim reminder of a punishment of times past, but have you ever wondered what kind of person was punished this way? Well, the last two people in Boston to be put in the stocks were "Barber Joe" and "Squealy Green".

The old Stocks in Wide Bargate.

Squealy Green was a queer fellow, him and his wife used to bury the stray cats and dogs for the Corporation but he would then go with a rake and get them up again, and then  they had to be buried once more which meant double fees. Eventually the Corporation found him out and Green was marched to the stocks.
Barber Joe is believed to be the very last to go to the stocks, he used to go to the Angel Inn (below) and shave the countrymen in the Tap Room. He would take his shaving tin in his pocket and put it on the Tap Room fire to boil and when the water was hot set to business.

The Angel Inn, Market Place, Boston.

It was a regular barber's shop on a Saturday night. He did very well but was not satisfied and started shaving on a Sunday morning in his own house at the back of the White Hart, that made the other barbers jealous, and they laid a complaint, and Barber Joe was put in the stocks one Monday morning.
Jim Maline and Joe Ashton were the two constables who put him in the stocks and they had to stand by him all the time he was there. People kept throwing pennies and half-pennies which the constables picked up but Barber Joe raved and shouted and made them put the money on the post in readiness for himself later.
So there you have it, Squealy Green and Barber Joe, two of old Boston's historical people who deserve to be up there with Herbert Ingram, Jean Ingelow and the rest of them.

Whipping Posts and Ducking Stools

In the Market Place (near where Marks and Spencer’s is now) stood the Corn Cross or as it was more commonly called the Meal Cross, it was a high, elegant building, raised three steps above the surrounding level, and supporting a flat roof upon fourteen square stone pillars. In the centre of the roof was a small cupola, protecting from the weather a large bell, by the sound of which the Corn Market was opened and closed. On the western side of this Corn Cross stood the Pillory, and on the south west corner the Whipping Post.
To the south of the Corn Cross (about where the opening at the end of the M&S building is now) was a horse pond, in which the tanners of the town also washed their skins, also erected here was a Ducking Stool and any unfortunate would be immersed in the murky waters of the pond.
From the horse pond to Dolphin Lane was an open space but in the centre of this piece of ground, securely fixed in the earth, was a heavy metal bull ring to which on high days and holidays the old time Bostonians would tether a bull and bait him to madness with fierce dogs.
On the other side of the Market Place was the Butchery and on its north eastern corner the Stocks were fixed, these were later moved (see below) to Bargate Green.Another punishment was the Hurry Cart. The wrong-doer was taken around the town attached to this cart and received a portion of his punishment at the door of every alderman, a portion of one of these carts is stated to have remained in the town stores as late as 1795.

As if these things were not enough, in 1670 the Town Gaoler brought in the following list of articles belonging to the gaol:—3 locks and keys for the windows and chimneys, 10 horse-locks, 4 pairs of cross fetters, 2 chains, 3 pairs of handcuffs, a pair of pothooks with two rivets and shackles, 5 pairs of iron fetters and shackles, and a U brand to burn persons in the hand, to this pleasant list of articles another burning iron was added in 1703, and in 1722 a pair of thumb-screws!

The Flesh Market

This was the old Boston Flesh Market, or Butchery, it was drawn by William Brand and dated June 1806.

The Flesh Market was where all meat was bought and sold in those days, before the coming of butcher’s shops. The building was erected in 1707, and taken down in 1790. It stood near the Town Gaol forward of the present churchyard railings as can be seen on the extreme left of the picture below. Over the doorway was a symbolical coat of arms with poleaxes crossed , and a beast and sheep as supporters. Over the South entrance (to the left) was sculptured the Boston Borough Arms with the name Robert Vent, Mayor, 1707. The town stocks can be seen at the corner of the building.