Caxton Gibbet

A gruesome example of the cage variation of a gibbet is the Caxton Gibbet, as used in Cambridgeshire, England. This gibbet employed a suspended iron cage into which live victims were placed. Over time, the victim would die from starvation, dehydration or exposure. Occasionally, the cage was set up so that the victim would die by drowning; pirates were sometimes executed by being placed in a cage at low-tide. As the water rose above them, they slowly drowned. Like traditional gibbeting, the body in the cage would remain suspended for some time as a warning to others.