HOOE STOCKS
There is very little evidence as to where Hooe′s stocks were situated but that they existed is in no doubt and there are very good suggestions as to where they were probably placed.
Stocks were, in the opinion of many, a good and simple method of dealing with the lower types of crime; crime that didn′t need the wrong–doer to be locked up in a prison. Crime, anyway, is only a crime according to the society in which the law was passed in the first place. Some "crimes" in one generation are not "crimes" in the next. Throughout England most villages, since the days of the Anglo–Saxons, had had their "Stocks" for punishing wrongdoers and Hooe was no exception.
The design of stocks (as opposed to pillories) was in the form of a wooden bench with, at a suitable distance away, two pieces of wooden board (sometimes iron), hinged at one corner so that the top board could be lifted up and away from the other and then re–closed when wanted. Each board had two half–holes cut, in–line with each other, so that when the boards were closed, two complete holes were formed through which the offender, seated on the bench, thrust his or her legs.
The two boards, when closed together, were clamped loosely around the offender′s ankles, and, then, held in place by a lock on the opposite end to the hinge, thus trapping him or her in situ until released.
Though stocks were, originally, used as part of a severe form of cruel punishment, they much later became a relatively mild form for petty crimes such as drunkenness, profanity or swearing in public or, where the village had nowhere else to hold a person "under arrest" until a trial could be held.
In 1405, an Act of Parliament made it law that every town and village was to have a set of stocks, usually placed by the side of a public highway or village green, for all to see the guilty. It seems that it has never been repealed as, in 2008, the "Monster Raving Looney Party" (remember them? – well, they′re still around!!) has it in their manifesto to, finally, repeal it!
In 1605/6, James I passed "An Act For Repressing the Odious and Loathsome Sin of Drunkenness", and made the punishment for that crime the paying of a fine of "five shillings of lawful money of England " with just one week to pay – and if he or she failed to come up with the money in that time, they were to spend six hours locked up in the stocks.
It was, also, James who, in 1623, passed "An Act to Prevent and Reform Profane Swearing and Cursing",
adding the stocks as the punishment for crimes of profanity or swearing in public. We wouldn′t have enough stocks for the so–called television celebrities of to–day.The following comes from my grandfather′s book
Hooe Stocks
Hooe had its "stocks" for the punishment of some offenders as did Ninfield and many another parishes. Those of Hooe were of wood and were placed near the site now occupied by Hooe Village Hall. A local carpenter was paid to make them in 1735.
The Red Lion was probably the place of the parish meeting at which the offender was heard and his ordeal decided upon.
The last to suffer ignominy there (according to tradition) was Jacob Boyce. Having endured punishment for being intoxicated, it is said, he got some kiln faggots which he placed against them and burnt them.
On 11th November, 1933, the following short article appeared in the "Bexhill Observer":–
HOOE STOCKS
"Doubtless many villagers have heard of the old Hooe stocks. These were constructed of wood in 1735 and placed on the site now occupied by the Village Hall. Between them and the &Quot;Red Lion" was a pond convenient for ducking. The offender was tried and sentenced in the village inn before being punished. Tradition has it that one offender, having been put in the stocks many times for drunkenness, revenged himself by burning them with kiln faggots.
Though it doesn′t say, I get the feeling that my grandfather, also, wrote the article!
The above is the only place I have found mention of a "Ducking Pond" so, whether or not Hooe had one ism as far a s I have been able to find, unknown.
