The Parish Register of Halifax

In August 1551 the sweating sickness swept over the parish. Between Aug. 2nd and 24th, of 45 deaths, 42 were due to this visitation, which seems to have subsided almost as quickly as it arose, only two deaths being recorded as due to this cause after the latter date. But the most notable feature in this part of the Register is the entry of the burials of the bodies of the criminals who had been gibbeted. They are 29 in number, but include no names hitherto unknown, although the first of them is not given in the latest list.¹

Note 1. The Yorkshire Coiners (p. 280) by H. Ling Roth.