Category: Arn Hill Gallows (in Warminster)

Being Human ~ At Warminster Library ~ A Free Talk About Hanging And Gibbeting In The West Country, Plus Poetry And Art Recreating The Public Hanging On Arn Hill, Warminster, In 1813, Of The Murderers George Ruddock And George Carpenter

Romancing the Gibbet

Public punishment and local memory in the Georgian West Country

A free event presented by the University Of The West Of England, taking place at Warminster Library, Three Horseshoes Walk, Warminster, BA12 9BT, on Saturday 22nd November 2013, 11.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

The occasional, and extraordinary, 18th-century practice of hanging and/or gibbeting some felons (exhibiting their bodies to public view in iron cages) at the scene of their crime, was intended to leave an indelible and exemplary impression on disorderly peripheral villages and small towns. They were often staged in remote locations before very large crowds and were spectacular, processional events. In 1813, one such execution was carried out upon two convicted murderers, George Ruddock and George Carpenter, on the brow of Arn Hill, overlooking Warminster. For this Being Human event, historian Steve Poole will give an illustrated talk on this and other west country crime scene hangings, explaining their rationale and placing the Arn Hill events into a broader historical context. Then, poet Ralph Hoyte and artist Michael Fairfax will create a public performance related to the events of 1813, involving poetry, sculpture, music, and sound installation. This event gets to the very heart of what it is to â€™be human’ in extraordinary circumstances.

Free admission.

Booking required. You book your free ticket by simply registering your name and email address online.

Click here to book

For further details, contact Steve Poole
email: Steve.Poole@uwe.ac.uk

Being Human Festival Website, click here.

The Changing Face Of Warminster ~ Arn Hill

Extract from The Changing Face Of Warminster by Wilfred Middlebrook, published in 1971:

Having climbed the Nun’s Path to Arn Hill, it might be of interest to have a closer look at this rampart of Warminster Down. According to Daniell, on Arn Hill is a square entrenchment, and a long barrow or burial mound in the plantation which was found to contain three skeletons when opened up in 1802.

This gruesome spot made a fitting site for the hanging of two felons in 1813, a spectacle that was “enjoyed” by sightseers on the tower of the Minster Church. A double gallows was erected for the execution of George Ruddock and George Carpenter, who had been found guilty of murdering a farmer and his servant at Roddenbury. It is related that a handkerchief was given to Carpenter after he was tied up, to be dropped when he was ready for the cart to be drawn away from under him; he delayed for nearly half an hour, then tried to prevent his fall, thus suffering greatly in dying. Ruddock jumped boldly off the cart and was killed instantly.

An old lime-burner at the Arn Hill Kiln, long defunct and ruinous (the kiln, not the lime-burner), told the late Mr. Harold Dewey that his father planted the firs that now form the plantation, to commemorate the marriage of the Prince Of Wales (later Edward The Seventh), and at that time removed the stumps of the gallows.

On a more cheerful note, the spacious and breezy summit of Arn Hill is now the site of the West Wilts Golf Course, founded in 1891 with a course of nine holes in 1906. The Club House used to be at the top of Elm Hill, but a fine road was made from this point to the summit of Arn Hill, where a new and up-to-date Club House was opened in October 1953.

The public, too, can enjoy the amenities of Arn Hill, a thoughtful Town Council having provided pleasant paths and seats on the southern slopes, a vantage point from which one may indeed get an excellent view of the changing face of Warminster, with the lonely but imposing Cley Hill in the background.

A public footpath encircles the lofty down, giving a fine panoramic vista as one proceeds around the perimeter of the golf course, with an ancient drove that finally leads one back to the top of Elm Hill. A few years ago I found this pleasant walk blocked at the bottom of the drove by a private garage built across the track, but a complaint in the right quarter resulted in a passage-way being opened up along the side of the garage, and an official sign denoting a public footpath.