The West Berkshire Historic Environment Record (HER) is the primary index of the physical remains of past human activity in the unitary authority of West Berkshire Council. Limited elements of the West Berkshire HER are available online via the Heritage Gateway, therefore it is not suitable for use in desk-based studies associated with development, planning and land-use changes, and does not meet the requirements of paragraph 194 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2021: 56). Please read the important guidance on the use of the West Berkshire HER data. For these purposes and all other commercial enquiries, please contact the Archaeology team and complete our online HER enquiry form.

This site is designated as being of national importance and is afforded additional protection. Consult West Berkshire Council's Archaeology team if more information or advice is needed.

Summary

Iconic tall wooden post, one of a series of replicas of the 17th century original, sited on top of a Neolithic long barrow in a landmark position on a chalk down

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1013198: LONG BARROW AT COMBE GIBBET, GALLOWS DOWN

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01054.02.000
  

Monument Type(s):

• GIBBET (Built, 17th century to Late 20th century - Present - 1676 AD to 1992 AD)

Full Description

The landmark tall post is called Combe Gibbet, but is often presumed to have been used as a gallows (Although source <1> claims differently) and is the hill it is sited on is named Gallows Down on historic Ordnance Survey mapping <9>.

Combe Gibbet is a modern replica (the fifth such) of a double wooden gibbet originally erected in 1676. The wooden post is about 4m (30 feet?) tall with a braced cross bar and is visible for several miles, being sited on the top of the downs near the minor road between Inkpen and Combe. It was erected on top of a Neolithic long barrow, a funerary monument dating from c3500 BC, and the parish boundary between Combe and Inkpen runs along this mound. |Prior to the mid 19th century Combe was part of Hampshire, hence this was the county boundary. The long barrow is a scheduled monument <10> but the gibbet is excluded from the scheduling.

An account in the Western Gaol Book (period 22 to 29, Charles II), now in the Public Record Office, gives details of the original crime and court case, tried in Winchester. A local man called George Broomham and his mistress Dorothy Newman were convicted of murdering George's wife and son. There is no evidence that the gibbet has been used at any other time apart from in 1676, but there is conflicting evidence whether it was used for hanging George and Dorothy (ie as a gallows) or just to display the dead bodies as a warning. The records say that the accused were "ordered to be hanged in cheynes, neere the place of the murder", but this seems to have been after the public hanging in Winchester on the 3rd March, 1676. The dead bodies seem to have been brought back to Inkpen and laid out in a barn at the Crown and Garter Inn to be measured up for the chains. The barn reputedly became a tourist attaction, renamed 'Gibbet Barn' <11>.

The first gibbet eventually rotted away, but was replaced several times in the 19th and 20th centuries, people wanting to preserve such a landmark. The details of each gibbet are as follows (date of erection, followed by reason for disappearance)
I 1676 - rotted away
ii 1816 - struck by lightning between 1835-1852
iii 1835-1852 - rotted and blew down in gale in October 1949
iv 1950 - cut down in May 1965, iv a - attacked in August 1965, but survived. Cut down October 1969, repaired and reerected
v 1969 - cut down September 1991
vi 1992

Inkpen's saw mills built the fourth gibbet <2>.

The film director John Schlesinger (Far from the Madding Crowd, Midnight Cowboy and many other films) made his first film in 1948 while he was a student at Oxford, about the story of the murders and hanging. It is a silent film called 'The Black Legend', and was filmed using many local people.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.