Towngate Stocks

The Cross & Stocks

It is not known when Baildon got its Stocks but Parliament's "Statute of Labourers" in the 14th century should have meant that every town had Stocks or something similar at that time.

There is some doubt as to who the last person was to be confined in the stocks. John La Page mentions, in his book written in 1951, that an old woman who, back at the time of his writing had died recently, could remember the stocks being used. The man was condemned to sit on the stone base of the cross while in the stocks during November from 10am to 6pm. Baildoners felt sympathetic and John La Page tells of him being offered tea to drink and whisky and, by Raphael Ambler, a hat to sit on, but the local constable was vigilant. John La Page acknowledges that others suggest that the last person to occupy the stocks was Throup Lilley who was guilty of miss-treating a horse. (HMP Wakefield Nominal Register records show that in March 1882 Throup Lilley age 51, a Carter of Otley, was sentenced to 14 days hard labour for being drunk when in charge of a horse and cart. Perhaps he didn't mend his ways after sitting on the cold base of the cross?)

The earliest direct reference to the Towngate Stocks is when the Baildon Local Board, in their meeting of 14 Nov 1862, mention that the stocks are in an inconvenient place.

In 1862 Baildon chose a fountain over a carillon of bells and when the fountain (Potted Meat Stick) was installed the stocks were removed to the reservoirs that were being built on Baildon Moor. A photo was taken at this time showing the Potted Meat Stick, the Stocks, and the Cross. (Where is this photo?) Was it the positioning of the Potted Meat Stick that caused the Local Board to suggest that the Stocks were in an inconvenient place or was there a feeling that by 1862 stocks were no longer a thing to have in the Towngate?

It is a fact that the pillars of the stocks were taken to the site of the reservoirs in 1862 but it seems likely that they were used there in a way that they could be retrieved without too much effort and with no damage to the integrity of the reservoir. Some reports suggest that when they were removed they were broken up and used in the construction of the reservoirs others suggest that historians made notes of their searches and after many hours browsing around "came across" the stocks in the walls of the reservoir. What seems likely is that in 1904 John Wilks could remember what his father had told him and, as a Councillor, was in a position to take people to them once the Council thought something could be done with them.

In 1904 John Wilks, who had a pretty good idea where the pillars for the stocks were, went up to the reservoir with William Scruton, George E Robinson (chairman of the District Council) and a couple of other people. The location of the pillars was confirmed and soon after they were put back next to the Cross, positioned so that someone confined in them could still sit on the stones at the base of the cross.

Over the years Towngate got more and more busy with horse drawn carts and later with parked cars and 'buses that used the area as their terminus and turning circle. The stocks were damaged on several occasions, one time by a runaway horse (brewer's dray?) in 1923,) another time, in 1929, by a reversing vehicle, and the pillars repaired or replaced such that it is now unlikely that anything remains of the original stocks. Arthur Edwick, in his handwritten notes mentions that the nearby Towngate Cross was also damaged and its top replaced.

Various ideas of how to improve the traffic situation in Towngate were talked about and then in the 1960s, as part of a major redevelopment, the stocks and Market Cross were moved to a new paved area in Towngate that was surrounded by low walls so it is unlikely that they will be damaged by vehicles again. Prior to this move the stocks, when in position, had always been placed near the Towngate Cross so that anyone in the stocks could sit on the base of the cross. In their new location this is no longer possible, but I don't expect anyone to be put in the stocks now. During this redevelopment The Potted Meat Stick was also moved - to a Council yard.

Looking through photos of Towngate that show the stocks it can be seen that sometimes there was no upper piece of timber to the Stocks and at other times photos show a piece missing from one of the pillars and what looks like a repair through the whole section. Yet other photos show that the pillar that appears damaged in some looks new in others, suggesting that it was replaced.

• 

  Stocks with no upper timber

• 

  Damaged pillar. 1923?

• 

  Replaced pillar. Damaged Cross. 1928

• 

  All new Stocks report

Historic England Listing

The Towngate Stocks are a Grade II Listed Building and the listing can be seen on the Historic England site.

The entry reads:-

Official list entry

Heritage Category:	Listed Building
Grade:	II
List Entry Number:	1199245
Date first listed:	25-May-1966
Date of most recent amendment:	18-Oct-1985
List Entry Name:	STOCKS
Statutory Address 1:	STOCKS, NORTHGATE
Details	SE1539NW BAILDON NORTHGATE (west side) Baildon 10/21 Stocks (formerly 25.5.66 listed as Stocks and Shaft of Cross Towngate) Probably early C18. Roughly dressed free-stone, wooden rails. Tall rectangular piers with groove on inner sides for rails (probably modern replacements). Not in its original position.