Gibbet, with skeleton hanging above the street, as public exhibition, London clink, 1 Clink Street London, England, UK, SE1 9DG
Image details
Contributor:
Tony Smith / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
2JKB6H1File size:
37.6 MB (2.3 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2400 x 5472 px | 20.3 x 46.3 cm | 8 x 18.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
24 July 2022Location:
1 Clink Street London, England, UK, SE1 9DGMore information:
A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold). Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. Occasionally, the gibbet was also used as a method of execution, with the criminal being left to die of exposure, thirst and/or starvation. The practice of placing a criminal on display within a gibbet is also called "hanging in chains" Gibbeting was a common law punishment, which a judge could impose in addition to execution. This practice was regularized in England by the Murder Act 1751, which empowered judges to impose this for murder. It was most often used for traitors, murderers, highwaymen, pirates, and sheep stealers and was intended to discourage others from committing similar offenses.The structures were therefore often placed next to public highways (frequently at crossroads) and waterways.