Crime and Punishment in the Peak District

Ramblings

BBC

Science, Nature, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

Clare joins writer Kate Morgan on a walk from Monsal Head to Tideswell in the Peak District. Along the way, they explore how the use of gallows and gibbets in public punishment has influenced rural place names. Gibbet Rock, a striking limestone outcrop also called Peter’s Stone for its resemblance to the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, was once used to ‘gibbet’ or display the bodies of executed criminals. Kate tells the story of Anthony Lingard, who was convicted in 1815 of murdering a local woman, Hannah Oliver, and became the last person to be gibbetted at the site.

Kate is currently researching her third book, which will be on this subject. Her previous two books are Murder: The Biography which explores the legal history of the crime of murder in English Law, and The Walnut Tree which looks into the major legal changes affecting women in the 19th and early 20th centuries. (https://amheath.com/authors/kate-morgan)

Map:OS Explorer OL24 The Peak District White Peak Area, Buxton Bakewell, Matlock & Dove Dale Map Ref: SK185715 for the start of the walk at Monsal Head car park

Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:07.3	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron.
0:10.5	Evil genius.
0:11.6	He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it.
0:15.5	That's like hiding at your own funeral.
0:17.1	Yeah, a bit great gig.
0:18.6	I'm Russell Kane.
0:19.6	Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.
0:41.3	It's a rather drizzly, forbidding day in Derbyshire,
0:44.9	which maybe is appropriate as we're going to talk about murder and the punishment for murder.
0:48.2	But first of all, we're at a very popular tourist spot
0:50.6	because loads of people around the local area
0:52.8	have come to have a look at Monzel
0:55.6	head and this is just outside the village of Tideswell so not far from Chesterfield not far from
1:02.9	Buxton and really is a terrific viewpoint Kate Morgan is with me and Kate you moved you moved to this area, not that long ago.
1:13.0	And before we start talking about you, especially the subject of murder, crime and punishment,
1:17.3	tell me about this area and the fact that, gosh, there are probably 10 people around us already taking photos,
1:22.8	and it's not even a nice day. No, so we're at the Montal Head viewpoint. We're at the top here. We're looking
1:27.9	down into Monsal Dale and we'll be coming down onto the Monsal Trail, which is a walking trail
1:33.7	that's the track bed of the old railway. It was part of the old line that ran, well, all the way
1:39.1	from London, actually, up towards Manchester. But it was closed in the 1960s and now it's this fabulous trail that runs from
1:46.5	from Bakewell to just outside Buxton.
	...

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