There was a plot of ground in Bridge Street, almost opposite Abbey Street (formally called Church Lane), upon which were erected the stocks and triangle used for whipping persons sentenced to that punishment. The stocks, which were once very common, were a frame with holes, in which the feet and hands of criminals were confined by way of chastisement. It is probable that the Cavan stocks and triangle were not used after the early years of the nineteenth century.
The last person who was in charge of these instruments of punishment was, it is said, a man named Rutherford, who resided in Bridge Street. A young man named Brady from Ballinagh is said to have tricked Rutherford into the triangle, and gave him “a taste of the pain he inflicted on others”. The triangle was removed after this incident.
