Jack Upperton and the Gibbet

Jack Upperton and the Gibbet

 

When Steve and I started out early morning run today we passed the new concrete wall that is painted green to blend in with the surroundings. The wall stands in front of equally new farm buildings on the Angmering Park Estate. I mentioned this a while back because there is an inviting amount of chalk underfoot ready for the passing Graffiti fan, I won’t say artist because there is nothing of ‘Banksie’ quality to be found here. The blessing is that all the slogans and rough images are in the local chalk so the wall can be washed or hosed down. This was good news for the local oiks because they can start all over again without having to squeeze the odd rude remark in, without having to search for a space.

Most of the remarks are unsurprising; somebody called Boris features prominently of course. The NHS are featured. Genetalia drawings are there, and a collection of names of visitors. New to the slogans were a couple that made us smile. They mentioned the legendary local history story of Jack Upperton, who because he was old and desperate and evidently not the brightest button in the box sadly chose to rob the Mail Coach on its regular route in those days. He was quickly caught, taken to East Grinstead assizes for trial and hung in Horsham in 1771 at the Carfax, where the public hangings took place. Jack was sentenced to be tarred, gibbeted and transported to the scene of his crime and the cage left hanging as a deterrent.

The gibbet part was truly horrible since the criminal had to be measured for the metal cage that they would be placed in before death. It is said that having been covered in tar after death and placed in the custom made gibbet the cage was then hung up and left, that he remained preserved in that state for two years. Who knows how true and of the various stories are.

There is a post at the place the caged body of Jack was hung and there are often a few wild flowers left attached to mark it, all the local people know the area as The Gibbet.

There were two new references to Jack Upperton chalked up on the big green wall today. One reading ‘Jacks life matters’ and another a few metres further along reads ‘Jack Upperton Hung Around Here *Gibbeted. Not hung’ which is incorrect because he was hung but in Horsham. There are songs that are sung around these parts about this sad tale.

Steve and I pass The Gibbet every other day when we do one of our regular running routes. At the point where we run past I always shout, “Morning Jack” to his ghost. I wrote this tale of woe a good few years ago.

The Gibbet by Daphne Belt

A poor man through idleness lost his work

Jack Upperton never was good for much,

then his slow efforts caused him to shirk

with light fingers, others goods he’d touch.

He knocked so loud at the work house door

looking for charity and a nights warm haven,

thrown a shabby coat, food and nothing more

filthy skin the colour of the tree top Raven.

He left ‘The Spike’ in East Preston’s village

and scrounged some dregs of ale nearby,

dull brained thoughts then turned to pillage

the unfair world would not question why.

Slow he ambled into Upper Wepham Wood

there he fed by catching rabbits in a snare.

A dream befell him by night that seemed so good

dark plans of wrong doing came in to him there.

Grand ideas seeped slowly from a simple mind

one big robbery and he’d be made for life,

a mail coach route with Monarch’s Way aligned

he’d be rich enough for to take him a wife.

A coach house was nearby where worked a barmaid,

Jack tried to woe her with his hair brained plan,

she said she’d tell of him, but he made her afraid

then he struck her head hard with an old iron pan.

Oh God, Sweet Jesus what have I done here

in panic buried her deep in that dark wood.

Sweating like a pig his heart raced with fear

had he her bright smile so misunderstood?

He saw now that his robbery must be perfected

‘twixt Steyning, Findon and Portsmouth town,

Monarchs Way through these places connected

his love lay deep in Bluebell topped ground.

A mile from Arundel Castle’s stern high wall

Jack lay in wait with his wicked young brother.

To stop a coach with the highways men’s call

tied the Post Coachman then ran off into cover.

Leaving the post man alive was a dreaded mistake

he had seen Jacks ruddy face somewhere before

and made it his business and a statement to make

hoping to send Jack to the Horsham gaol door.

Sure enough it happened and Upperton remanded,

his swift trial was held at East Grinstead assizes

Sent to Horsham to hang as the judge commanded

Gibbets made to measure in all shapes and sizes.

Hung in public to warn and most horribly entertain

after the ‘Short Drop’ to slow the hanging death

causing shock to family and the maximum pain

as the prisoner struggles to take his last breath.

Condemned men were measured before the noose

to ensure the heavy cages most perfectly fit

the dead are held stiff and upright, not loose,

lowered from the gallows after life at last quit.

The Gibbet was then hung at the place of the crime,

dipped in hot tar for the sake of lasting longer.

Flesh rots away, slowly picked by birds in time.

Agony, of loved ones, who can bear it no longer.

The Gibbet post stands still, after hundreds of years.

That was the custom; it was the thief’s fate,

no soft feeling for family or their sorrowful tears.

Descendants bring flowers but regret is too late.

John Upperton was finally buried at that place

his ghost often seen walking along with a lady

they hold hands sadly and turn to stand face to face

then slowly walk on through the woods so shady.

This was copied from the internet, it is more information about the old Gibbet method.

A gibbet /ˈdʒɪbɪt/ is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold), but gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing ...

Gibbeting, or being hung in either chains or irons, was a form of post-mortem punishment. The body of the executed was placed on display as a deterrent to crime, but in reality, bodies in gibbets were tourist attractions that would draw large crowds of people to view the freshly deceased.