Winter's Gibbet

On August 10th 1792 William Winter, Jane & Eleanor Clark were executed at the Westgate, Newcastle for the murder of Margaret Crozier, an old woman at Raw Pele, a tower two miles north of Elsdon. Margaret Crozier died of a fracture to the left temple and strangulation although it is often stated that her throat was cut.

Following the execution the bodies were disposed of in different ways: the females dispatched to the surgeon's hall for dissection whilst the body of William Winter was hung in chains on Whiskershields Common, a few miles south of Elsdon.

The body remained on the gibbet as a sight for the passing curious until the clothes rotted. Eventually the body was cut down, the bones scattered, and the skull sent to Mr Darnell of Newcastle.

In time the original gibbet decayed, partly due to natural processes and partly due to the quaint country practice of rubbing pieces on the gums to cure toothache.

Around 1867 Sir Walter Travelyan of Wallington ordered a replica, complete with wooden body, to be erected on his land. In time the wooden body disappeared following its use for target practice, till only the head remained, giving rise to the 20th century custom of hanging a fibre glass head on the replica gibbet.