DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Bygone Punishments" by William Andrews. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

This incredible history of Berkshire presents an accurate report of the manners, customs, traditions, and life of people in Berkshire a long time ago. The author includes short biographies of the famous personalities that lived in the Royal County. The stories of the castles and abbeys display how several significant events in the history of England have taken place on Berkshire soil. This work contains different texts by various prominent writers describing the history of the Royal County. Contents include: Historic Berkshire. by P.H. Ditchfield Windsor Castle. by Evelyn Ingleby Wallingford Castle. by J.E. Field Cumnor Place and Amy Robsart. by H.J. Reid Alfred the Great. by W.H. Thompson The Guilds of Berkshire. by P.H. Ditchfield The Scouring of the White Horse. by E.R. Gardiner The Last of the Abbots Siege of Reading Reading Abbey The First Battle of Newbury. by Edward Lamplough The Second Battle of Newbury. by Edward Lamplough Binfield and Easthampstead, 1700-1716, and the Early Years of Alexander Pope. by C.W. Penny Berkshire Words and Phrases. by M.J. Bacon Bull-Baiting in Berkshire. by Canon Sturges Index. by William Andrews

Generation after generation has come up with new forms of punishment to inflict on those guilty (and sometimes innocent) of crimes against property and person. From the stocks and pillory, to flogging, ducking and transportation to foreign lands, this volume brings to life those turbulent times of long ago. Even after suffering the ultimate in punishments — death — the bodies of the convicted could still be punished. Stories of dissection, when the body of the deceased criminal was publicly carved up, or gibbeting, when the corpse would be coated in tar and canvass and displayed in an iron frame on a pole 30ft high, are gruesome in the extreme. Pity poor John Spencer, whose rotting remains were gibbeted for over sixty years until the cage was finally blown down in a storm. Richly illustrated, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into the dark world of punishments through the centuries and will appeal to all those wishing to discover more about Nottinghamshire's intriguing past.