At The Tree Executions in Gloucestershire 1722-1790

Description

By Jill Evans

Between 1722 and 1790, 203 prisoners were executed in Gloucestershire, most of them at the county gallows (commonly called ‘The Tree’) on Alney Island, just outside Gloucester.

Using the Gloucester Journal as its primary source, this volume brings to life those violent times, when the county’s citizens could go and watch prisoners, who could have been condemned at the assizes for crimes such as highway robbery, house breaking, horse-theft or sheep-stealing, as well as for murder, pay the ultimate price for their crimes.

This book should appeal to readers interested in the history of crime and punishment, or in the darker side of Gloucestershire’s history.