What Happened In The Dungeons

Has anyone read up on what really went on in the dungeons?
Or is it all drawn out to make it be a terrible place. I would like to learn all I can about dungeons and why they were put there.

So if there is anyone out there that wants to shed his or her story fell free..

I hope someone comes up with something even spooky stories would do...

Slainte

I have a feeling this may be to dark of a subject for most people. I am here to try and learn the history of the dungeon, what crimes caused what punishments was it cold down there "ya know I have never been in one" Nor is there any around where I live thank goodness.
Any good book ya'll have read or movies anything...would be appreciated..


Slainte

We have a castle in St Andrews that has what is known as the bottle dungeon - a 22 foot deep pit with only one entrance and one exit - the top!

More details about the castle can be found here
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stan...stle/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Andrews_Castle

When we visited Bodmin Jail in Cornwall in 2003 we were amazed to see what punishments were handed out to people for what these days we'd take as being a minor offence - one I recall was inprisonment for stealing his neighbour's chicken.

There are several dungeons open as tourist attractions now - I've only been to the Edinburgh one

http://www.thedungeons.com/

Thanks so much for adding those Lynda. The prisoners now a days do have it made easy. I think just the dripping of the water- is enough torture for me..lol
I can imagine a lot of people went missing and were never found again.

Slainte

They certainly do rindy. The Edinburgh Dungeon is quite scary and you are taken through some rather gruesome displays including ones telling you about Burke & Hare and Sawney Bean and family

When looking at the torture equipment there after seeing these you really do wonder who was worst ... the criminals or the authorities - I've found a link here to a catalogue of all sorts of torture, past and present http://www.seanachaidh.org/sawney.htm

One thing I wonder about with the bottle dungeon... wouldn't it remind someone to clean it out when it started stinking up the place with the smell of rotting flesh?

There are two trains of thought about the bottle dungeon - one is that it was used as a dungeon, the other not quite so exciting - that it was merely a grain store. Whatever though, it's a mightly strange way to store anything.

I'll see if I can get some photographs to show you of the castle and bottle dungeon ( got a new digital camera for Christmas!)

Hi Lynda,

Photos would be great. Very interesting. I wonder which castle had the most dungeons. Anyone know?

Slainte

I was going to say ask Guinness, but their website comes up with nothing on the subject of dungeons. If anyone has better access to their database, there might still be something there.

I don't have photos, but from what I have read is that dungeons were very crowded and most people died just from the bacteria and disease they got from others in their cell.

http://www.fidnet.com/~kawlaw/devices.html

Perhaps this website will help answer some of your questions
It is called, Medieval Punishment/Torture
Click on the Device link for more information.

I have never been in one and don't care to.
Good luck with your search. I believe under
devices you will find some of what happened
in dungeons.

Oh goodness, Donajhi! Pretty awful. As fascinated I am with that time period, I must admit I am glad I don't have to *really* live in it!

Thanks for the website!

Good to have you back. Hope the trip was exciting and you got some good pictures to post.
Sorry if the website was to graphic. Didn't know exactly what you were looking for.
Guess I go over the top sometimes, could be interbreeding. HA!HA!

I've seen quite a lot of different castles in Scotland,Ireland,Wales and England and
one must not forget that these "castles" were fortress with a garrison of soldiers
who of course would be under the control of the "lord" of the place.

And since in Scotland and Ireland most of them are now in ruins there is not much
anymore left of dungeons. But some still have them and what was explained about it is that it was actually a prison for men who were taken during war and most of the time unfortunately it was the "lord" who would be the judge of their fate.And most of the time it was to be the "traitor" death which is the same fate as William Wallace had. Gruesome death!!! (very spectacular for the villagers.)

The most beautiful monuments I saw and still well preserved are in Wales though.
Wales is the most populated in England with fortresses and they are huge and the architecture is extraordinary. The King's master builders were geniuses, to think and design these fantastic monuments and that today we can still see them in their glory. As for the dungeons there, they called it the "oubliette" where they would just push the prisoner in the deep hole put the very heavy cast iron gate on top and forget about him or her.

So this is in short what I know about dungeons I hope it helps you a bit more to understand what it was use for.

Lady of Avalon! Absolutely fascinating what you shared here. Most horrific times, were they not? I have several friends in Wales and they send me photos of all the castles and fabulous architecture. Every year in the past I had hoped to go to Scotland, but in the past couple years I realize that when I get over the pond I want to see all of Great Britian! Thanks for sharing, Lady of Avalon!