Stocks and pillory

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There is sometimes a confusion in the denominations of these restraint devices .
Usually the stocks are a wooden device restraining the feet ( or both hand and feet)
whereas the pillory has an opening for the neck and the hands . The normal kind of pillory is a non movable, wooden structure mostly set up in a public place,  the stocks can be situated in public but they can also be used inside a prison cell . Another type ( sometimes called portable pillory ) is the yoke which also restrain both hands and neck but is supported by the prisoners shoulders . An interesting device is the "Shrew's fiddle" similar to the yoke with the difference that the hand
openings are in front of the neck hole .
                                                        Pillory                                    Stocks
 
                                    The yoke                                                   "Shrew's fiddle"
 

Wooden stocks

    Stocks and pillories were mostly wooden structures but in some regions the pillory consisted of an iron collar chained to a stone pillar !
 
 

Stone pillory Strassburg 1522

    For a well documented and deeper insight in this matter , refer to the Stocks & Pillory Pages

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