Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/600

 494 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.ix. DEC. 17,1921. and the sea coast), our attention is called to a said in addition to the account by the Rev. plain, rough stone close by the wayside. This j JJu^ter is known as " Hang-stone Davey," from the fact | *" that a noted sheep-stealer of that ilk, halting to The road m crossing Straftord Sands proceeds rest upon the stone with his iU-gotten bootv i grating the parishes of Barnborough and slung around his neck, fell asleep and was strangled Melton until these unite with Man- . At this point by the weight of his burden., at the end of the wood is a stone called Hangman n TT HT Stone. With this stone there is a tradition I*. i. W. [here follows the usual legend]. This was the i story in the time of Charles II. as I find it in John- ston's MSS". and it is told in nearly the same words Back volumes of N. & Q. contain many which Johnston uses. ( South Yorkshire,' vol. references to these. For example, vol. i. of ii., p. 489.) the Second Series refers to the f oUowing : j a o not wish to burden this note with more two at Foremark, Derbyshire, and one each than the question requires, but should be at Littlebury, Essex ; Breedon, Leicester- obliged if MB. CRAWFORD would say whether shire ; Lamber Moor, Pembrokeshire ; near the two he refers to agree with the two Brighton, Sussex; and near Barnsley, ; herein described in occupying situations of Yorkshire. The last-mentioned is usually commanding eminence, at junctions of, considered to be the one referred to by ! locally, important lines of communication. O. W. Holmes in the concluding chapter of j E G B The Autocrat of the Breakfast-table ' : I was riding on an English stage-coach when | " 'HEADS 5 AS THE PIEMAN SAYS " (12 S. we passed a handsome marble column (as I re- ix. 449). About sixty -five years ago there member it) of considerable size and pretensions, j was j n this town a noted maker of mutton What is that ? I said. That, answered the ~:~ . vo ncoH tn afanrl in fV^ Sntnrrlav coachman, is the hangman's pillar. Then he told i V 1 . ',, he U f d me . . . [here follows the T well-known legend], i night's market, and I supposed was well in memory whereof the lord of the manor caused | known to every little lad in the place, this monument to be erected as a warning to all j At that time nearly every little chap had who love mutton better than virtue. | his Friday penny, given by his mother. The combination of pillar and stone seems j The old pieman "had a supply of already sufficient proof of identity, although Dr. | cooked pies, and these were warmed in a Holmes' s description is not quite in accord- little portable tin charcoal oven. As the ance with fact, for (1) it is not a "marble ! boys turned up the pieman called, "Toss column," but an obelisk built of large 1 or buy! Here am I ! Pies, pies all hot, all dressed stones ; (2) it has no connexion j hot ! Heads I win ! " with the hangman stone, from which it is j A penny was spun on to the oven top distant nearly a quarter of a mile. Further- and the pieman called " Heads." If the more, its origin and purpose are clearly coin fell showing the Queen's head the stated on a square stone set in the body ; pieman won his .pie and the penny too. If of the structure, on which are engraved an | the Britannia side of the penny showed, the arrow pointing out the direction and the ', boy won both penny and pie, and tossed words " Wentworth Castle, Smiles, 177[ ]" ! again for another pie: he frequently won the last figure is now undecipherable. ! two and three pies. This hangman stone was on the side of the G. S. STEPHENSON, M.D. high road between Barnsley and Sheffield, Griznsby. about four and three-quarter miles from the : The allusion is to p i em en tossing up with formerplace,andgayeitsnameto the toll-bar, custO mers for their pies, and usuaUy manag- the house for which is yet in existence, but the | m to win t he toss. I presume that the spot on which the stone stood is now part Cl 5 tomers p aid in advance for their chances, of the site on which stands the local office : There is an allusion to something of the the West Riding Constabulary The kind in < chuzzlewit,' ch. xxv., where Mrs. exact spot is marked on the 6m. O.S. of 1854, Gamp refers to ev 'ry individgle penny 1 !' afl* Ude 9 48 ' lon itude I that child lost at toss or buy for kidney L 28 30. j ones," meaning kidney pies. In 'Sketches Another hangman stone also existed in by Boz,' ch. ii., we have " the kidney pie the West Riding of Yorkshire and may be stand," and the kidney pie merchant- found so marked on the 6in. O.S. of 1854, I " every time he opens his oven to hand a hot Sheet 276, latitude 53 31' longitude kidney pie to a customer." Whether, when, 1 14' 40". Respecting this nothing need be ] as we learned in the nursery rhyme, " Simple