NHER 8722 (Monument record) - Norfolk's last post medieval gibbet

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Summary

This was the last gibbet to stand in Norfolk and was the site where the writer Rider Haggard excavated the cage irons and found a piece of human skull still attached to them.

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Location

Map sheet TF90NW
Civil Parish BRADENHAM, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Map

'Site of gibbet' (Ordnance Survey). This was the last gibbet in Norfolk, and it was here that Rider-Haggard excavated the cage-irons with fragment of human skull attached.
E. Rose (NLA).

Marked, rather inaccurately, on (S1). N. Arbor (NCM) says the skull is that of Clive, a malefactor. Formerly wrongly marked as two sites with NHER 15258.
E. Rose (NAU), 26 January 1984.

N. Arbor (NCM) has changed his mind and now says owner of skull was called Watson.
E. Rose (NLA).

The discovery is recorded by Rev. Armstrong on 20th July 1882; where he refers to the skull as being 100 years old.
Information from (S2).
E. Rose (NLA) 8 October 1997.

  • --- Article in Serial: Whyte, N.. 2003. The Deviant Dead in the Norfolk Landscape.. Landscapes. Vol 4, No 1. pp 24-39.
  • --- Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
  • <S1> Publication: Faden, W. and Barringer, J. C. 1989. Faden's Map of Norfolk in 1797.
  • <S2> Publication: Armstrong, H. B. J (ed). 1949. A Norfolk Diary. Passages from the Diary of The Rev. Benjamin John Armstrong. p 250.
  • HUMAN REMAINS (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Related NHER Records (0)

Record last edited

Feb 22 2018 12:12PM

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