Gibbet Hill is on the outskirts of Coventry and bisects the Kenilworth Road. It has been used as a place of execution since 1765. In days of yore, three soldiers of Lord’s Pembroke’s Regiment of Dragoons, wearing disguises, mugged three farmers returning from Coventry market. One of the farmers died. They were arrested, found guilty at Warwick Assizes and sentenced to publicly hang at Gibbet Hill. A couple of Coventry soothsayers though said that if a hare ran out from under the scaffold, a reprieve would be on the way from Warwick Assizes. Word of this got around and people watched for it. Sure enough it happened! The crowd got very restive and the sheriff delayed the execution and sent a messenger to Warwick to see if there was a reprieve. There was not, so they hung!

Sources: “Haunted Warwickshire” by Meg Elizabeth Atkins page 177-178.

 http://forum.historiccoventry.co.uk/main/forum-posts.php?id=4545

About the author

Gary Stocker graduated from Coventry Polytechnic in 1991 with a degree in combined engineering. He worked in civil engineering for nearly twenty years. For the last six years he has worked in materials science and currently works as a test engineer. His hobbies and interests include voluntary work, conservation work and blacksmithing. He is also interested in history, mythology and folklore and he says, “most things”.

How did your granny predict the weather? What did your great uncle Albert tell you about the little green men he saw in the woods that night? What strange creature stalks the woods in your area?

So many of these old stories are slipping away for want of being recorded. legendary creatures, odd bits of folklore, folk remedies and charms, and all the old stories that brought our landscape to life…

Tell me a story, share memories of the old ways that are being forgotten, share the folklore of your home. I am not looking for fiction with this feature, but for genuine bits of folklore, old wives tales, folk magic and local legends. Why not share what you know and preserve it for the future?

Email me at findme@scvincent.com and put ‘Living Lore’ in the subject line. All I need is your article, bio and links, along with any of your own images you would like me to include and I’ll do the rest.