Richard Foister (or Foster) was reputedly the last highwayman to be gibbeted alive in England. In reality he seems to have been a local footpad who attacked travellers along the old coach route across Ham Hill. He was found guilty of murder and bound into a metal cage at what is now known as Foister's Gully - a hollow-way which passes along the route of the Roman road through Batemore Barn, close to the abandoned medieval hamlet. Village tradition has it that his screams of hunger could be heard in the village. On his death his wrists were found to be eaten to the bone. A local girl who offered him (tallow) candles to eat was nearly lynched for feeding him.