Stories about Surfleet Seas End

There’s an old local story that public hangings once took place near The Ship at Seas End.

In 1769, Philip Hooton was executed at Lincoln for the murder of Samuel Stockton at Surfleet. Afterwards, Hooton’s body was brought back to Surfleet and hung in chains in a gibbet at the very place where the murder had taken place.

The site was on Surfleet Common/Marsh, beside the river, and became known locally as “Hooton’s Gibbet.” It was such a well-known landmark that more than 20 years later it was still being referred to in parish records and plans for improvements to the River Welland.

We don’t know exactly where the gibbet stood or that it was immediately beside The Ship — so the story that “people were hanged at The Ship” may be local legend rather than literal fact.

But there really was a gibbet on Surfleet Marsh, and we’re continuing our search to find its exact location.

250 years later, can we find where Hooton’s Gibbet actually stood?

Do you know the answer ? Let us know in the comments.

Another fascinating piece of the history surrounding our Ship and Seas End.

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