Absence of Evidence or Evidence of Absence? Welsh Extra-Curial Dispute Settlement Revisited. (1st June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ireland, Richard
• Is Part Of: Welsh history review. Volume 30:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 56
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2020-06-01
• Subjects: Wales -- History -- Periodicals; Histoire -- Périodiques; Wales; History; Periodicals; 942.9005
• DOI: 10.16922/whr.30.1.4
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0043-2431

Abstract

The 'ceffyl pren' ('wooden horse') was a ritual shaming punishment used by neighbours against offenders who were held to have breached communal norms. The use of the practice in the nineteenth century is often presented as a survival of a long-established custom, rooted in rural Welsh life and in decline due to suppression by the instruments of the state. This article argues that the ceffyl pren was not in its origin ancient, nor particularly Welsh, and that its use increased in the nineteenth century. The reasons for the development of the practice at that later time are then considered.