“ Caxton speaks both of “a gallows,” and, in the older form, of “a pair of gallows,” this referring probably to the two upright posts. From the 16th century onwards “gallows” has been consistently treated as a singular form, a new plural, “gallowses,” having come into use. “The latter, though not strictly obsolete, is now seldom used; the formation is felt to be somewhat uncouth, so that the use of the word in the plural in commonly evaded” (New Eng. Dict. s.v. “Gallows”) . ”

“ In old times the process was far less merciful; sometimes the condemned man stood in a cart, which was drawn away from under him; sometimes he had to mount a ladder, from which he was thrust by the hangman. Until 1832 malefactors in England were sometimes hanged by being drawn up from the platform by a heavy weight at the other end of the rope. Death in these cases was by strangulation. At the present time executions in the United Kingdom are private, the gallows being erected in a chamber or enclosed space set apart for the purpose inside the gaol. ”