©Steve Bewers, March 2025

It has long been the tradition that in rural areas felons and lawbreakers sentenced to death were taken to meet their ends at the very edges of territories for execution. Often these sites were visible from a lot of places in the locality, presumably to serve as a warning. We have no records of executions taking place at the site, but it has been called Gallows Corner since before 1770, possibly back to medieval times.

Gallows Corner stands at the intersection of no fewer than five trackways right on top of the hills between Milton Abbas Parish and Cheselbourne and were it not for the coppiced hazel that lines each of the tracks the site would be visible for a very long way.

Each of the trackways at that point is bounded by a ditch and bank which is another testimony of its age.

For more on the parish boundary see our article, and for parish boundaries in general

OS Map Reference

ST787005 378700 100546