A scold's bridle was a particularly unpleasant form of punishment. A woman would have been forced to sit in full view of the otherinmates wearing the bridle which prevented her from speaking.

The bridle in Powysland Museum, Welshpool is thought to be the actual one bought for the workhouse near Forden at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The extract below is from the workhouse records.

The handwriting above reads:
"Punishments - Ordered that Mary Davies wife of Robert Davies for riotous and other ill behaviour be confined with a Bridle for two hours."

The link below is to the page on Whipping ...