The dunking chair

I took this photo from the Old Weavers House bridge in the high street in Canterbury. The houses on the left were built around 1500 on the Stour river by the Hugenouts who came over from the continent to avoid religious persecution.
If you look just above the boat (also in extra) you can see a log pole with a seat at the end - this is the ducking stool - used for two purposes:
1. To determine if a woman was a witch - put on this seat and ducked under the water (amongst all the sewerage and detritus of living) several times for minutes at a time, if they survived they were witches and a worse death awaited or if they drowned they were innocent but too late- oh well!
2. To punish "scolds", women who were deemed by their husbands to be nags or just not towing the line.

In summer you can take a ride on one of the punts which are navigated by students along the river Stour.