In the mid-eighteen Century Kings Chase was reputed to be one of the most unruly places in England. A report from a Bristol newspaper dated 1786 said
that Fry and Ward, now under sentence of death, this made ten persons who had died on the gallows within 3 years from the Kingswood area The Gang to which these miscreants belonged kept the neighbourhood of Bitton in so much dread
that people used to pay them an annual stipend not to rob them of their poultry and other things. The protection money was usally paid once a year at Lansdown fair Bath. In the history of Kingswood Forest, dated 1891 it is recorded that perhaps no other village in England surpassed the Cock Road Gang of Kingswood for its notoriety in robbery.
So full of lawless persons,
highway men and burglars was it that constantly many places near were plundered at the same time. It was also recorded as being the home of many
`husksters` (fences) and that these dealers in stolen goods could be seen passing with their carts but no one dared stop or report them.
Persons were stopped, grossly insulted and robbed in broad daylight. Gangs of
ruffians by day and by night were always on the whatch. The spot on which Cockroad Methodist Church once stood seemed to be their general rendezvous
and outlook, as from this spot they could see anyone approaching for many a mile. Hence they were prepared and no one dared to approach the robbers den.
The whole of the area of Cockroad seemed to be robbers and existed on their plunder. Farmers would sometimes come with the Constable in search of lost property, their own livestock being paraded in front of their very eyes whilst the robbers laughed. However they could not touch them as they could not
identify their pigs and sheep after they had been killed and dressed.
The place was so bad with robbery and violence that it became a serious problem with the Bristol authorities as to how it could be put down.
Eventually they called together the watchmen and city of Bristol guards and
sent them in a mass at the dead of night to Cockroad, where, aided by the
local Constable, they surrounded every house, taking every man they could lay their hands on and into custody.
This was indiscriminate arrest and they took them all to Bristol where subsequently only a few were liberated, the majority being transported or hanged. Several of the notorious Cains family who came from Cockroad and nearby Cadbury Heath were hanged at Gloucester.
This family still has its roots in the area today, I know of a local
school teacher who is directly related to the Cains Gang.
It is reported in the Bath Press 1870 that proceedings had accurred a few days previously on the occasion of the appearance of Benjamin Cains, a robber who had lived in the Cockroad area. He was tried for robbery, condemned, and hanged at Gloucester. The corpse having been conveyed home, the lid of the coffin was taken off and the body exhibited to the people of the area at 2d
per head, such monies going towards the expence of the funeral.
On the day of the funeral a large number of his associates attended, some on
horseback and riding in front with great pomp and ceremony which seemed customary and befitting the heroism of a local desperado.
The Cock Road Gang could have been classed as the 19th Centry Kingswood mafia.
The gang must have been in existence for some time because it was reported in
1815 that there were 25 of the ruthless Cockroad gang in Gloucester Jail and
these had been operating the protection racket, collecting money at Brislington Fair in Bristol.
One of the most famous gang leaders was Richard
Bryant who was known to have robbed and murderd as far away as London.
His haunt was the Blue Bowl Inn at Hanham where he was reported to have always
slept with his boots on, ready for a quick get away. The notorious Kaines or
Cain's family of Cock road are still talked about even today, of the family
of five sons and one daughter, three were transported, and the daughters' three husbands were transported also. An old inhabitant of the village, used to say
one of his earliest recollections was that of paying a penny to see the two Cains brothers, who had been hanged, lying in their coffins; for the bodies had been given up to their relatives, and they made money on the side by making
them a show. These men were buried at Bitton, by the late Rev.Ellacombe,then
a curate, at the parish church. And so the story ends.
Some supposed that
the name Cockroad took its name from cock-fighting, as being in character with the villagers in early times. It would appear, however,that it took its name from a practice of keeping narrow clearances or roadways in forests for
the purpose of trapping woodcocks; nets were spread across thesengs, and
the birds driven into them.
