Does anyone out there ever visit the Welsh town of Brecon? Well, if you do, here’s a story from the Powys county archives that I bet you won’t be able to forget the next time you’re there. It’s from the ‘Order Book’ of the Breconshire “Quarter Sessions” held in midsummer 1725:
It’s quite hard to decipher the hand-writing, so here goes with a transcription:
“Margaret Luke being indicted at this Sessions for ye felonious stealing of one Bodice of ye Goods of Walter Davies and upon her Tryall Convicted of ye said offence It is by this Court ordered that she be stript from ye waist upward and publickly whipt tomorrow Morning between ye hours of eleven and twelve from ye East Gate to ye West Gate in ye Town of Brecon.”
So, here’s the question: how far is it from ye east to ye west gate in Brecon? And what sights would you take in on a modern-day walk from on to t’other?!
Abel, no matter how long the walk. I sure would have loved to see Margaret Luke striped waist up and down, and thorougly flogged, on her bare bottom.
I don’t know much about Brecon except that it has been a base for the army since 1719. I wonder if the troops there saw this as a source of entertainment?
Prefectdt
I’ve been there a few times. The Brecon Beacons NP is amazing, but what is really astonishing is Powis Castle. In the guided tour they tell you how in the cold winters the Lords and Ladies of former times used there maids as bed warmers.
OMG – maids as bedwarmers. How *hot* is that!!