Gibbet Gate, Bilston

[Lynntony]

I'm trying to find information about Gibbet Gate, Bilston, ie where it was. I've got info about a family member who, according to the 1861 census, lived on "Wolverhampton Road by Gibbet Gate." Does anyone have any idea where on Wolverhampton Rd this gruesomely named place was? Any help would be gratefully received.

Tony

[chempat]

Google search gives this as a first attempt:

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/BilstonDirectory/BilstonHistory/bilstonhistory04.htm

[Lynntony]

Thanks chempat. I suppose one has to be thankful that things like this don't happen anymore!--

"It should be noted that the presence of a gibbet is not evidence of sentences being executed and criminals hanged in Bilston.  It was only after you had been hanged (probably in Stafford) that your body was hung, in a metal cage, upon a gibbet, preferably near to where you came from or committed the foul deed."

It's enough to put you off your fish and chips!!

Sadly, the article doesn't give the location of said gibbet. 

[Lynntony]

Just come across information that gives the position as near Ward St and Wolverhampton Road junction. It seems that Ward St was formerley known as Gibbet Lane so I'm assuming that the gibbet stood on, or near, that junction.
Apologies if anyone has gone to any trouble searching.

Tony

[dionysus]

That location fits with another bit of evidence, too.  The "Gate" implies a toll gate on a turnpike road.  The Ordnance Survey 1st Edition, published 1834, marks "TG" in the north east quadrant of what is now the crossroads at Ward Street, Bilston Road / Wellington Road and Stowheath Lane.

Dion

[Jool]

I drove through that junction only yesterday, totally unaware of the gruesome things that went on there in times gone by.  Very interesting.

Jool

[Lynntony]

Also strange that I married a girl from just around the corner from Ward Street and that we did, just after our marriage, consider buying a house in Ward Street! 


Tony

[Gary Barnett]

I know there was a knacker’s yard near the Gibbet Toll Gate. One of my ancestors worked there and lived in Gibbett Lane in the 1850s.