A scold's bridle, sometimes called a witch's bridle, a gossip's bridle, a brank's bridle, or simply branks, was an instrument of punishment used as a form of public humiliation.
A branked scold in Colonial New England, from a lithograph in A Brief History of the United States by Joel Dorman Steele and Esther Baker Steele from 1885
16th-century Scottish branks, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland
18th century scold's bridle in the Märkisches Museum Berlin
The "Bishop's branks" of St. Andrews
Stocks are a feet restraining device that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Classical Athens, where they are described as being i
Scold's bridle
…side effects for the wearer, including excessive salivation and fatigue of the mouth. The scold's bridle was used on women, the counterpart of the stocks and pillory used to punish men. First recorded in Scotland in 1567, the branks were also used in England and its colonies. The Kirk sessions and barony…
Village stocks in Bramhall, England.
The south prospect of the High Cross in Bristol (1728)
The Stocks at Belstone in Dartmoor, a Grade II listed monument.
Stocks in Keevil, Wiltshire.