Lesser punishments for committing crime included:

 

• Whipping (flogging)
  Many towns had a whipping post. The victim was chained to the post, stripped to the waist and whipped.
  You could be whipped for stealing a loaf of bread!

 

• Branding with hot irons
  Hot irons were used to burn letters onto the skin of offenders hand, arm or cheek. A murderer would be branded with the letter 'M', vagrants with the letter 'V', and thieves with the letter "T"

 

• The pillory (standing)
  The pillory was a T shaped block of wood with holes for the hands in the crossbar of the T. The person being punished would have to stand in the device in the middle of the market to be ridiculed by passersby.

 

• The stocks (sitting)
  Stocks were used in the same way as the pillory, except that with stocks, the feet were bound. The stocks were a block of wood with two holes for your feet to go in.You were put in the stocks for selling bad meat or bread. Local people threw rubbish and rotten eggs at people in the stocks.
  You could be put in the stocks for not wearing a hat on Sunday!

 

• The ducking stool (Punishment for women)
  Accused witches were dunked into a river, to see if they were innocent or guilty. If they floated, they were considered guilty and burnt at the stake. If they sank, they were innocent but died anyway, by drowning. Either way, they perished. !!