Jougs
The jougs, juggs, or joggs (Old French joug, from Lat. jugum, a yoke) is an instrument of punishment formerly in use in Scotland, the Netherlands and other countries.
Purpose
It was an iron collar fastened by a short chain to a wall, often of the parish church, or to a tree. The collar was placed round the offender's neck and fastened by a padlock. The jougs was practically a pillory. It was used for ecclesiastical as well as civil offences. Examples could still be seen in Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century. It may have lent its name to the modern "jug", slang for prison.
Examples
The former Parish Council chambers in Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire, Scotland, called the 'jougs', has a set of jougs still attached to the front wall.
Sir Walter Scott rescued the 'jougs' from Threave Castle in the Borders and attached them to the castellated gateway he built at Abbotsford House.[1]
The old Tolbooth museum in Sanquhar in the Nith valley has jougs attached to the wall just outside the entrance to the old jail.
Sorn church jougs were stolen in the 1930s, but were located and returned. Cuthbertson refers to the jougs as symbols of the session's power against gossips and evil-doers.[2][3]
The tolbooth and weigh-house, part of the Fife Folk Museum in Ceres, Fife has jougs on the wall next to the weigh-house door.
The jougs on the Isle of Cumbrae survive attached to a gatepost at the entrance to the Millport Old Cemetery entrance.[4]
The 'Clachan Oak' is an ancient sessile oak near Balfron in Stirlingshire. It can still be seen to be bearing metal bands around its trunk to which jougs were once attached for the restraint and humiliation of petty criminals.[5]
Mr Carse of the Shawhill Estate protected a fine old thorn tree that grew at the Hurlford Bridge end by having a pair of jugs attached to it, made by David Brown the local blacksmith. These were never used, however they acted as a deterrent to local children who might harm it.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Napier, George G. (1897). The Home and Haunts of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. James Maclehose, Glasgow. p. 153.
- ^ Cuthbertson, David Cuningham (1945). Autumn in Kyle and the Charm of Cunninghame. London : Jenkins. p. 116
- ^ Sorn Church Retrieved : 2011-01-11
- ^ Steele, John and Noreen (2009). Welcome to Wee Cumbrae. Privately published. ISBN 978-0-9532637-0-7. p. 38
- ^ Rodger, Donald, Stokes, Jon, et. al (2006). Heritage Trees of Scotland. The Forestry Commission & The Tree Council. ISBN 0-904853-06-3. p. 182
- ^ Wilson, M. (1875). The Ayrshire Hermit : Tammie Raeburn. Hurlford Sixty Years Ago. Kilmarmnock : Alfred Chas. Jonas. Pages 40 & 41
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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