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A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging
Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging"....
.

A gallows can take several forms.

ows may be permanent to act as a deterrent and grim symbol of the power of high justice
High Justice

High Justice is a 1974 collection of science fiction short stories by Jerry Pournelle. A major part of the background of these stories is the final fall of the Welfare States; Russia is never mentioned, and the US is downsliding due to inflation and political corruption....
 (the French word for gallows, potence, stems from the Latin word potentia, meaning "power").






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Tombstone Courthouse Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging
Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging"....
.

A gallows can take several forms.
  • the simplest form (as often used in the game "Hangman
    Hangman (game)

    Hangman is a paper and pencil game guessing game for two or more players. One player thinks of a word and the other tries to guess it by suggesting Letter s....
    ") resembles an inverted "L", with a single upright and a horizontal beam to which the rope
    Rope

    A rope is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength ....
     noose
    Noose

    A noose is a loop at the end of a rope in which the knot slides to make the loop collapsible.Knots used for making nooses include the running bowline, the tarbuck knot, and the slip knot....
     would be attached.
  • the horizontal crossbeam is supported at both ends.
  • temporary gallows.
  • the infamous Tyburn gallows
    Tyburn, London

    Tyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch. It took its name from the Tyburn , a tributary of the River Thames which is now completely covered over between its source and its outfall into the Thames....
     was triangular in plan, with three uprights and three crossbeams, allowing up to 24 men and women to be executed simultaneously when all three sides were used.


Types


Permanent

Gallows may be permanent to act as a deterrent and grim symbol of the power of high justice
High Justice

High Justice is a 1974 collection of science fiction short stories by Jerry Pournelle. A major part of the background of these stories is the final fall of the Welfare States; Russia is never mentioned, and the US is downsliding due to inflation and political corruption....
 (the French word for gallows, potence, stems from the Latin word potentia, meaning "power"). Many old prints of British and European cities show such a permanent gallows erected on a prominent hill outside the walls, or more commonly near the castle or other seat of justice. In the modern era the gallows were often installed inside a prison; freestanding on a scaffold in the yard, erected at ground level over a pit, enclosed in a small shed of stone, brick or wood, built into the gallery of a prison wing (with beam in brackets
Bracket (architecture)

A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf....
 on opposite walls), or in a purpose-built execution suite of rooms within the wing and close to the condemned cell.

Temporary

Gallows can also be temporary. In some cases, they were even moved to the location of the crime. In England, pirates were typically executed using a temporary gallows, at low tide in the Intertidal zone
Intertidal zone

The intertidal zone is the area that is exposed to the air at low tide and submerged at high tide, for example, the area between tide marks. This area can include many different types of habitats, including steep rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, or wetlands ....
, then left for the sea to wash over them during three following high tides.

Portable

If a crime took place inside, eg., a building, gallows may be erected—and the criminal hanged—at the front door. In some cases of multiple offenders it was not uncommon to erect multiple temporary gallows, with one noose per condemned criminal, after the trial.

Horse and cart

Hanging people from early gallows sometimes involved fitting the noose (a.k.a the tater) around the person's neck
Neck

The neck is the part of the body on many limbed vertebrates that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The scientific term signifying "of the neck" is nuchal....
 while he or she was on a ladder or in a horse-drawn cart underneath. Removing the ladder or driving the cart away left the person dangling by the neck to slowly strangle. Later, a "scaffold" with a trap-door tended to be used, so victims dropped down and died quickly from a broken neck rather than through strangulation, especially if extra weights were fixed to their ankles.

During the era of public execution in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, England, a prominent gallows stood at Tyburn
Tyburn

Tyburn may refer to:* Tyburn, London, former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution...
, now in the region of Connaught Square
Connaught Square

Connaught Square, in the City of Westminster , was the first square of city houses to be built in the Bayswater area. It was named after the Duke of Gloucester, a member of the royal family who was also Earl of Connacht, who had a house nearby....
. Later executions occurred outside Newgate Gaol, now the Old Bailey
Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court in England, commonly known as the Old Bailey, is a court building in central London, one of a number housing the Crown Court....
.
Execution Lincoln Assassins

See also

  • Gibbet
    Gibbet

    A gibbet is any of several different devices used in the public execution of Crime and the deterrence of future crime. When used as a verb, gibbeting refers to the public display of executed criminals....
    ;
  • Dule Tree
    Dule Tree

    Dule or Dool trees in Great Britain were used as Gallows for public hangings. They were also used as Gibbets for the display of the corpse for a considerable period of time after such hangings....
    ;
  • Hangman's Elm
    Hangman's Elm

    Hangman's Elm, or simply "The Hanging Tree", is an English Elm located at the Northwest corner in Washington Square Park, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
    ;
  • Moot hill
    Moot hill

    A Moot hill is a hill or mound historically used as a meeting place. In Early Middle Ages Britain in the Middle Ages, such hills were used for moot , meetings of local people to settle local business....
    ; and
  • Capital punishment
    Capital punishment

    Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the killing of a person by procedural law for Punishment#Retribution and Punishment#Incapacitation....
    .


External links

  • .
  • wikibooks:A Researcher's Guide to Local History Terminology: Local History terminology.