Historic%20Yorkshire

90
THE STORY OF YORK CASTLE.
disturbancemadeby the monks, the privilege was taken
from the ecclesiastical hangsmen. In 1379,at a meeting
of the local and other authorities at York, the question
was finally decided,and a new gallows was then ordered
to be erected,and the place of which was calledTyburn.
Within a month the new gallows was erected and used
for an execution, the criminal first hung on this new
" tree" beingone EdwardHewison. The greater part of
the Castle andits land was handedover to the care of the
county at a date between 1377 and 1399.
The first
account whichbears anystamp of authenticityof a Castle
gaoleris the record of a personnamedOswald Wilkinson,
who was appointed in 1557, but suffered death at
" Tiborne " in 1572 for treason and conspiracy.
After the transfer of the Castle from the custody of the
Crown to that of the county, the towers continued to be
used for purposes of confinement, but want of proper
repair and their general neglect caused them to become
so utterly ruinous that they were levelledin 1701, and a
new gaol erected by a tax being laid on the lands of
the county. The stone used for rebuilding was chiefly
from the ruinedAbbey ofSt. Mary. Howard,about 1772,
visited York Castle,and speaks interms of qualified praise
of the arrangements for the lodgment of debtors and
criminals. The very early days of York Castle as a prison
are,as might be expected,markedwith the cruelty of the
times. Here is an example: — Persons who would not
plead,but remained silentin order to prevent the confiscation
of their estates from their family, were visited by
what was called the Judgment of Penance. The form
was as follows: — " That you be taken back to the prison
whence you came, to a low dungeoninto which no light
can enter; that you be laid on your back on the bare
floor, with a clothround your loins,but elsewhere naked;
that there be setupon your body a weight of iron as great
as you can bear — and greater; that you have no sustenance
save, on the first day, three morsels of the coarsest
bread; on the second day, three draughts of stagnant