Thread: Ashbourne's gallows sign

There is a Hitchcock connection to the pub, but only through the name of one of Hitch's films**, in the manner of the BBC Radio 4 quiz programme "Round Britain Quiz" whereby the answer evolves around word-association. As it turns out however, that connection opens up the pub to a greater dimension of local and national history which all the internet commentators miss by a whisker, except by one 1912 source which is just lying there like a Hitchcock clue. Its really worth asking YP to copyright this thread in view of an approach to the BBC on this one. The Ashbourne pub appears to be the centre of a quincunx which includes Wirkswirth, Belper, Crich; and Tean and Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.....

(**Does anyone want a clue to the Hitchcock film?)

Anyway, back to the mystery of the swinging signage. All can be revealed on this link here:-

Derbyshire news, Latest Derby news | This Is Derbyshire

Which leads us on to the gallows themselves which ALSO has a separate connection to the said Hitchcock movie; thereby and Youtube. It does appear that the spine of England, and its arterial route the A1 from London to Edinburgh and its parallel roads, are highly prominent in the pub gallows or gallows signage community owing to the legendary highwaymen of the 1500's to 1700's. Waltham Cross on the A10 has one. Lincoln, 15 miles off the A1 has two: "The Struggler" which is still in existence, and "The Dancing Man" (name needs no introduction) which was situated next to the official Gallows in that city. One can speculate quite easily regarding the numbers of street names of "Gallowgate" in towns and cities in the periphery of the A1 from top to bottom.

Apart from York, and the Old Starre Inn in Stonegate in the city, there is the aforementioned town of Stamford which has the George Inn and its over-road gallows, which for all intents and purposes is bang on the A1 in its thoroughfare through the town, excepting the by-pass which carries its name nowadays which was built the 1950's.

Courtesy of my friends on the Britmovie cinema enthusiasts site where it appeared due to its unique nature of being one of the very few colour travel documentaries from before the Second World War, here is the Youtube reference.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYmFxoLb4OM"]YouTube- The Great North Road (1939)[/ame]

The Stamford gallows comes in at around 5mins50, but that is not all! Along the way there's tons of stuff like milestones and village crosses etc. You might even get a glimpse of YP's motor.......

Originally Posted by Richie

Courtesy of my friends on the Britmovie cinema enthusiasts site where it appeared due to its unique nature of being one of the very few colour travel documentaries from before the Second World War, here is the Youtube reference. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYmFxoLb40m

Shame the video doesn't work, as this....

Originally Posted by Richie

Stamford gallows comes in at around 5mins50, but that is not all! Along the way there's tons of stuff like milestones and village crosses etc. You might even get a glimpse of YP's motor.......

...would've indeed been a treat!

Good video, however the best bit is at 5:57, the car with the pram on the back:

Originally Posted by Richie

I doubt it either. The lines are probably all underground by now to have made way for the six-lane expressway that the A1 has mushroomed into!

Any answers for the "Hitchcock movie connection" anyone.....?

All I can think of is 'The Third Man'

In the late 1950s/early 1960s I lived in Wetherby and remember the A1 being upgraded around the time we moved away - 1963 - with a bypass being built. I think I took the below photo in 1964, there's signs of construction work in the background. The road sign reads, left to right - A1 Kirk Deighton, B1224 York, A1 Boroughbridge, A58 Leeds.

* by the way, it was still known as the Great North Road in the early 1960s

Er, The Third Man wasn't a Hitchcock enterprise. Amazing the number of people who do. i could even start a topic on BBC Entertainment around the pre-War Hitchcock films and the similarity to those of Orson Welles whose film TTM actually was.

Is there anyone else out there? In order to create a cut and paste frenzy regarding the denouement it will give others a few days yet to surmise......

Maybe in the meantime I'll see if I can drag up a spooky connection between Ashbourne and Wetherby

(Depending on the edition accessed, both novels on which Hitchcock's film and Welles' arguably third most well-known film are based, have the reference to "gallows" on Page 13...... )