Witness Early Justice

Discover for yourself the array of punishments used to treat criminals before Inveraray Jail existed.

For petty theft you could have been branded with a hot iron, had your ear nailed to a post or been publicly whipped. And although nagging is not a crime, there were even tongue holders which were used to punish nagging wives.

More serious crimes were punishable by branding with a hot iron which left the victim with a scar that would identify him for the rest of his life.

Thumbscrews were commonly used to extract confessions. The screws were slowly tightened, pressing down on the prisoners’ thumbs causing excruciating pain.