Davy51 Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Since we are in the season of the grisly & the gruesome i was wondering if anyone can shed any light on the above? I believe it happened somewhere between Warrington & Manchester ,but the only information i have is from a plaque i remember from years ago that was attached to a gibbet in Warrington museum & a plaque that used to be in Springfield St. post office.I have tried to research this myself but to no avail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Since we are in the season of the grisly & the gruesome i was wondering if anyone can shed any light on the above? I believe it happened somewhere between Warrington & Manchester ,but the only information i have is from a plaque i remember from years ago that was attached to a gibbet in Warrington museum & a plaque that used to be in Springfield St. post office.I have tried to research this myself but to no avail. What information is on the plaque? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 11, 2012 Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Is this the one you mean wavydavy ? Click for My link It starts half way down the left hand column at the first indented paragraph "The 15th about 5 o'clock in the morning......." Date 1791 (I think). Sorry I tried to save the whole of it as a jpeg for ease and also tried to look for other news articles but my pc seems to think I've had enough and keeps crashing today. Like it has any right to tell me that... well ok maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 So where was the gibbet hung? Dizzy's article says the body was found in Britch Brook and another link I found here says the murderer was hung in chains "on the Manchester Road, near "The Twysters," where the murder had been committed". Any ideas where this may have been? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Found this - Only five months after William Lewin had been gibbeted for robbing the mails, almost in the same locality Edward Miles robbed and murdered the post-boy carrying the Liverpool mail-bag to Manchester on September 15th, 1791. For this crime he was hanged, and suspended in chains on the Manchester Road, near "The Twysters," where the murder had been committed. In 1845 the irons in which the body had been encased were dug up near the site of the gibbet, and may now be seen in the Warrington Museum. Our illustration is reproduced from a drawing in Mr. Madeley's work, "Some Obsolete Modes of Punishment." It will be observed the irons which enclosed the head are wanting. [illustration: MILES'S GIBBET IRONS, WARRINGTON MUSEUM.] Many references to The Twysters on Manchester Road, Actually identical texts, but no explanation what and where The Twyters were. And could Twyster be an old spelling of Twisters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Twisters is an occupation in the cotton/textiles industries. Cotton/textiles was a big industry in Mancchester many moons ago. Would there have been a cotton mill somewhere on Manchester Road or nearby and could The Twysters be a public house named after such an occupation, like The Glassmakers Arms or The Brickmakers Arms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Yef Dizzy, I fufpect that is the article ,where is Britch Brook, is it Woolston area ? Re the diagram of the gibbet Cleo ,that is pretty much the gruesome object , i think the Warrington Museum one was more or less complete.I believe the idea was to hang a murderer's corpse in the gibbet as a warning to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I found this..... "Padgate was the scene of the murder in 1791 of a post boy, James Hogworth. A certain Edward Miles was caught and put on trial. Found guilty, he was sentenced to hang and to be gibbeted. He was duly executed and his body taken to Padgate where it was encased in a steel cage and then hung until it rotted away as an example to others. Miles was the the last person to be gibbeted in the Warrington area, although this charming custom was only abolished in 1861. The gibbet cage can be seen in Warrington Museum & Art Gallery." from this website http://www.gocheshire.co.uk/padgate/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Violent times it seems!! :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Edward Miles trial date was 10th August and he was executed 14th September 1793.... the above article is dated 19th Sept 1791 so that means it must have taken almost 2 years to find/sentence Edward Miles (unless the info below is incorectly dated) 1793 - 3 executions S 9 March Charles Burton Forgery S 30 March " Joseph Charles Rape of Sarah Norcott Th. 4 April S 10 August Edward Miles Robbed mail coach S 14 September Hanged in chains near “The Twysters”, Manchester Road, Warrington Execution info from this website re executions 1735 - 1799 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 The Gibbet that was exhibited in Warrington Museum. The Gibbet was on the Cross Roads where the Rope & Anchor stands. Interesting to note that five months previous to the murder of the Mail Boy James Hogworth, another villain William Lewin ((UNSURE - READ BELOW)was hung in the same Gibbet for another mail robbery. I have since discovered another source that reports differently:- William Lewin, in 1788, robbed the post-boy carrying the letters from Warrington to Northwich, between Stretton and Whitley. He managed to elude the agents of the law for three years, but was eventually captured, tried at Chester, and found guilty of committing the then capital offence of robbing the mail. He was hanged at Chester. Says a contemporary account:--"His body is hung in chains on the most elevated part of Helsby Tor, about eight miles from Chester; from whence it may be conspicuously seen, and, by means of glasses, is visible to the whole county, most parts of Lancashire, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, etc., etc."[14] About this period there were three gibbets along the road between Warrington and Chester.[15] The trial of William Lewin, alias William Henry Clarke, Alias William Brown, Alias William Hutchinson, Alias William Maule, alias William Hope,was held before the Honourable Edward Bearcroft, his Majesty's Chief Justice of Chester, and Francis Burton, Esq; his Majesty's Other Justice of and for the Said County. on Monday the 18th of April, 1791, for robbing the boy who carried the mail between Warrington and Northwich, in the county of Chester, of his Horse, and the Bag which contained the Letters from Warrington to Northwich, On Tuesday the 11th of March, 1788. As taken in court 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 So what was The Twysters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Funny to think of gibbets swinging in the wind by the Rope and Anchor! <shudder> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 If memory serves, didn't they dig the gibbet up and it still had Edward's skeleton and boots in it? I remember reading something like that the museum - my kids were fascinated! I remember loving the 'mantrap room' at the Museum when I was a kid too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 So what was The Twysters? I have no idea Cleo and can't find any reference to it other than it was a torturous method of extracting a confession from someone- Prisoners who declined to plead were tortured, in order to compel them to do so, by twisting and screwing their thumbs with whipcord. In 1721, a woman named Mary Andrews was subjected to this punishment. After bearing with fortitude the first three whipcords, which broke from the violence of the twisting, she submitted to plead at the fourth. If you want find out what kind of a barbaric society there was in this country in the past, and possibly give you nightmares go to this site "Bygone Punishments" http://www26.us.archive.org/stream/bygonepunishment29117gut/29117-8.txt or for downloadable PDF http://ia600406.us.archive.org/8/items/bygonepunishment00andriala/bygonepunishment00andriala.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 I imagine the bodies in the gibbet twisting in the wind, maybe this twisting gave rise to a local nick name for the spot where the gibbet stood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Actually I've just noticed the body was found in Britch Brook and the gibbet was 'near the Twysters where the murder was committed'. So it sounds like The Twysters wasn't where the place where gibbets stood but was a place nearby where the murder had actually taken place. Maybe a house or farm name? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Actually I've just noticed the body was found in Britch Brook and the gibbet was 'near the Twysters where the murder was committed'. So it sounds like The Twysters wasn't where the place where gibbets stood but was a place nearby where the murder had actually taken place. Maybe a house or farm name? Quote from the site British History. POULTON WITH FEARNHEAD MANORS FEARNHEAD Among the names of various enclosures forming the demesne of Bruche the following occur at this time:— Thickholt, Thinholt, Stockey Croft, Lockers meadow, Warthe meadow, and Harper Sparth. By the water of Mersey was a messuage called The Twyeste or Twist; near Bruche were the Great Haigh and The Offenham or Ofnam; in Warrington land called Rypshagh and Rysshefeld. "Britch" possibly a local pronunciation of Bruche as in Bruche Brook which is west of the Dog & Partridge and now known as Padgate Brook. Richard his son and heir married Margaret, daughter of Peter Legh of Bradley and Lyme. In 1457 he settled part of his estate upon Dulcia, daughter of Hamlet Mascy of Rixton, upon her marriage to his son and heir apparent, Hugh Bruche. (fn. 41) In 1465, Richard Bruche held of Peter Legh of Bradley one half of the manor of Bruche by knight's service and 12d. yearly, which manor was situated on the south side of a certain heath called the Bruche Heath, and extended to the lane leading from Warrington to Woolston and as far as the water of Mersey, and in width from the Bruche Brook on the west to Woolston Brook on the east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted November 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 All very gruesomely interesting ,thanks to all concerned. Algy i remember the gibbet at the museum being in a glass case & empty so they have obviously made it a more prominent exhibit...i haven't visited the place for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Fascinating stuff Algy, me ould historian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Fascinating stuff Algy, me ould historian. Are yer' 'appy now my little desert flour. :grin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Is there no History Cold Case we can't solve??! Great work Algy! I've had a look at the Tithe maps online, they have Poulton/Woolston but sadly no plot details, I was hoping to find exactly where the Twist Messuage was. I'll never look at Manchester road in the same light again, it'll be all swinging gibbets and highway robbery from now on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Is there no History Cold Case we can't solve??! Great work Algy! I've had a look at the Tithe maps online, they have Poulton/Woolston but sadly no plot details, I was hoping to find exactly where the Twist Messuage was. I'll never look at Manchester road in the same light again, it'll be all swinging gibbets and highway robbery from now on! Something else will come up!!! Trace. :grin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted November 12, 2012 Report Share Posted November 12, 2012 Are yer' 'appy now my little desert flour. :grin: Excessively so Alge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey Bennett Posted November 13, 2012 Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 Random Google activity managed to uncover this account of William Lewin, great story! He was gibbeted at Helsby though, not Warrington by the sounds of it. The Trial of William Lewin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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