Most Tudor towns were small and only had a few hundred houses crowded together.They often stood on river banks and had a wall around them to keep out attackers.

 

With no police to watch out for bad behaviour crime was controlled by having severe punishments for even minor crimes. If you stole anything worth more than 5 shillings then the usual sentence was death by hanging.

 

Beheading was usually for Noblemen (the richer people) as it was felt to be less degrading and a quicker death than hanging 

 

( Around 70,000 people were executed during the reign of Henry VIII. )

 

Lesser crimes were often dealt with by placing the person in stocks and allowing the public to insult them and throw rotting fruit and vegetables at them.

 

Beggers and Vagabons were seen as the lowest people in society and a law passed in 1536 stated that people caught outside their parish without work were to be punished by being whipped through the streets. For a second offence the vagabond was to lose part of an ear. If a vagabond was caught a third time he or she was executed.