Britain's most brutal punishment?

Combe Gibbet in Berkshire stands 25ft high on the summit of Inkpen Beacon and is unusual as it’s a double gibbet, reportedly erected for the hanging of a man and woman who were secret lovers – and evidence suggests she was the only woman to have been gibbeted in Britain. Samantha Priestley explores the history behind the gibbet...

- Samantha Priestley

Before 1752, when the Murder Act was passed, how we punished criminals was decided by authorities in each community, and often this included gibbeting, or ‘hanging in chains’. Today, Combe Gibbet in Berkshire is a replica and has been replaced and renewed seven times, such is its importance. It stands 25ft high on the summit of Inkpen Beacon and is unusual, firstly because it is a double gibbet, reportedly erected for the hanging and gibbeting of one man and one woman, and secondly because evidence suggests she was the only woman to have been gibbeted in the UK.

Combe Gibbet was first erected in 1676 and was only used once for its purpose. George Bronfman and Dorothy Newman were secret lovers who were arrested for murdering George’s wife, Martha, and their son, Robert. The public hanging was to take place on 6 March that year, and the pair were to be hung side by side on the gibbet on the hill.

The record of the trial is detailed in the Western Circuit Gaol Book for the period 22/23 Charles II, retained in Winchester Library, and relays the dispute that arose over who was to pay for the execution, the parish of Combe or Inkpen, which included the cost of two sets of irons.

While George was from Combe, Dorothy was from Inkpen, and the dispute also centered on where the gibbet should be erected. In the end, the gibbet was built on the boundary and the two parishes shared the cost, but they would both have still felt the pinch. Erecting a gibbet and creating custom-made chains for murderers certainly wasn’t cheap.