This Day in History: 1707-04-01

On 1st April 1707, Pontefract Town Council ordered that the lead pipes ‘yet ungot between Broad Land End and the Castle’ be used towards the repairs of the Conduit in Market Place indicating that Pontefract Castle had once been supplied with water from the town via Micklegate, Market Place and Ropergate. On the same date, a General Town Meeting held in the Moot Hall resolved that ‘the Constables doe Imediately repayre the Pillory and make it sufficient before Easterday next’. The pillory (a wooden device securing the offender’s head and hands whilst subject to public abuse) was probably in Pontefract’s Wool Market known as Hemp Cross or Hide Cross in earlier times. The town’s stocks (for holding the offender’s feet and ankles), which stood near the porch of St Giles’ Church, survived until about 1872.