Walking the River Avon

From a description of features on the Malmesbury Civic Trust River Walk:

Cross the road to the Memorial Gates (commemorating those who fell in World War II) and follow the Walkway. The land to your right is Rack Meadow, where cloths from Avon Mill were hung to dry, next to Cucking Stool Meadow, where unruly women were ducked in the river. Avon Mill (Old Silk Mill) was built in 1793 by Francis Hill to Introduce new machinery into the wool industry. Unfortunately the quality was poor. After prospering whilst making cloth for uniforms during wartime the business failed in peacetime. For 90 years after 1852 it produced silk ribbons, finally being converted into flats in 1986.

You can see Cucking Stool Meadow as the banner to this blog.

Update: It is probably worth mentioning, however, that the Stool “ducks” both the communis rix and the communis rixatrix.

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