Races were not the only spectator event held on the site of the racecourse. From 1715 until 1818, the site was used for public executions. One such well known case was of the notorious Culworth Gang. For two decades in the Eighteenth Century, people as far and wide as Oxford and Northampton were terrorised by the Culworth Gang. The gang was a notorious brotherhood of about fifteen men who set about as highwaymen. After a long reign of terror, eventually seven men were arrested, but one got away. The gang had escaped capture for twenty years until two men, William Pettifer, alias Peckover, and Richard Law, arrived to stay the night at an inn in Towcester. They claimed that they had been cockfighting and that their bags contained fighting birds. However the landlord became suspicious and checked the bags after the men had gone to bed. He discovered the notorious masks and smocks used to hide their identity instead and summoned a police constable. Nothing was done initially, but after a robbery in nearby Blakesley not much later, the two men were served with search warrants at their houses and stolen property was discovered. They were promptly arrested and surrendered the names of other members of the gang whilst admitting to forty-seven similar offences. Four men were subsequently hung at Northampton Racecourse at midday on the 4th August 1787. A crowd of five thousand people turned up to witness the hanging.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 07:26:39 +0000
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