There can be little doubt that certain rural crimes were committed with the sole intention of striking terror into the victim’s heart. The crimes of arson and animal-maiming fall into this category. The destructive, sadistic and threatening nature of these crimes, crimes that gave no material benefit to the perpetrators, simply carried a message of hate. We can only imagine the horror of the farmer upon the discovery of a mutilated mare, or the helplessness as he watched his wheat rick burn to ashes. Moreover, following such an attack we can imagine his feelings of vulnerability and isolation. Incendiarism and animal-maiming were acts not simply of rural terrorism but psychological terrorism par excellence.

Of all the crimes examined in this book, incendiarism and animalmaiming were by far the most serious. Other rural crimes against property carried the death sentence prior to the 1830s, but incendiarism and animalmaiming often brought down the full weight of a judge’s sentencing powers. Their seriousness was reflected by the possible sentences a court could impose upon those found guilty. Between 1723 and 1837, arsonists, if convicted, could be tried under the Waltham Black Act. This infamous Act laid down that to maliciously or wilfully set fire to any ‘house, barn, out-house, hovel, cock, mow, stack of corn, straw, hay or wood’, whether in disguise or not was ‘to be punished by death without benefit of clergy’. Although, after 1837, the death sentence for arson was retained only for those who deliberately set fire to a ‘habituated dwelling-house’, transportation for a rural incendiarist was still the most likely outcome of a successful prosecution. Between 1722 and 1823 the crime of animal-maiming also came under the Waltham Black Act and was technically punishable by death. Moreover, despite the relaxing of the law, an animal-maimer, like an incendiarist, could still expect a lengthy spell in gaol or even transportation.

Both crimes were grave offences and, although they were clearly different, they did share some similarities. Apart from poaching, the crimes of animalmaiming and incendiarism lend themselves easily to the concept of social crime and crime as protest. The firing of farm property has long been associated with rural protest.