Home
Listing
Search the List

Enrich the List

Apply for Listing

What is Listing?

Listing Guidance
Listing

Find out about listed buildings and other protected sites, and search the National Heritage List for England (NHLE).

Find out about listing

The Old Blacksmith’s Shop The Old Blacksmith's Shop, Wiltshire © Historic England DP276780
Advice
Advice Finder

Heritage at Risk

Your Home

Technical Guidance

Planning

Caring for Heritage

Constructive Conservation

Heritage Protection Guide

Coronavirus Support & Advice
Advice

See our extensive range of expert advice to help you care for and protect historic places.

Get our advice

Tubwell Row Darlington, since 2001 improvements to Darlington Town Centre have sought to celebrate its architecture and create a pedestrian heart with an inclusive shopping and civic area © Historic England
Research
Our Research Strategy and Agenda

Research Methods

Current Research

Research Results

Support & Collaboration

Inclusive Heritage

Latest Research

Heritage Counts
Research

Discover and use our high-quality applied research to support the protection and management of the historic environment.

Discover our research

Testing vertical aerial photography methods at British Camp on the Malvern Hills. Read about our latest aerial investigation methods © Historic England Archive. (S3282_V_0651)
Images & Books
Find Photos

Search All Publications

Buy Books

The Historic England Archive
Images & Books

Historic England holds an extensive range of publications and historic collections in its public archive covering the historic environment.

Browse our collections

A portrait of John Laing outside Bournemouth train station, during a staff outing of Laing's London office. Photographed 30 May 1953 © Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection. JLP01/08/008844
Services & Skills
Education

Grants

Our Planning Services

Training & Skills

Archive Services

Heritage Action Zones
Services & Skills

Find out about services offered by Historic England for funding, planning, education and research, as well as training and skill development.

Learn about our services

New Heritage Partnership Agreement Signed at King's Cross Station © Historic England
Get Involved
High Street Culture

Everyday Heritage

Support Us

Volunteer in Heritage

Protect Your Heritage

Visit Your Heritage

Help Write History
Get Involved

Explore the many ways you can help to support the incredibly rich and varied heritage.

Get involved in heritage

Brixton Windmill - Friends of Brixton Windmill. Shortlisted for ‘Best Rescue of an Industrial Building or Site’ Angel Award in 2012 © Historic England
What's New
News

In Your Area

Historic England Blog

Latest Research

Heritage Online Debate

Statements

Stay up to Date

Coronavirus Support & Advice
What's New

Read about our current news, projects and campaigns nationally and in your area.

Catch up with what's new

Sandra Kazlauskaite interviewing a Youth Club group at Grantham Community Centre. © Emm Nunn
Sign in
Manage my account

Sign out

The old prison and pump

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1002727
Date first listed:: 04-Dec-1951

User submitted image — Your photos and comments are welcome This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1002727
Date first listed:: 04-Dec-1951

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Swanage
National Grid Reference:: SZ 02987 78750

Summary

Lock up and water pump at Swanage Town Hall.

Reasons for Designation

Lock ups, also known as round houses, blind houses and clinks, are temporary holding places for offenders being brought before the magistrate. Sometimes a cell was located in or under a public building, but most lock ups were purpose built, usually small square, rectangular, octagonal or occasionally circular stone buildings. Most were windowless with one or two ventilation grilles, often set under the eaves or into the single door. The earliest recorded lock up dates from the 13th century, and most fell out of use when police stations with their own holding facilities were established. Less than 300 lock ups are currently recorded nationally, mostly grouped in clusters such as in Essex, West Yorkshire and Derbyshire, with the highest concentrations in Wiltshire and Somerset. In some counties, such as Hampshire, there are no recorded examples. The lock up and water pump at Swanage Town Hall is a rare survival in excellent condition.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 December 2015. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a lock up and water pump situated immediately north of the Town Hall in Swanage. The lock up survives as a small rectangular gabled stone built roofed building with a barrel vaulted ceiling, a nail studded door and a single window covered with a grille. A commemorative plaque above the doorway is inscribed with the words ‘Erected for the Prevention of Vice and Immorality by the Friends of Religion and Good Order, AD 1803’. Inside is a dished circular setting presumably for ablutions. To the north of the lock up is a painted cast iron decorated water pump surmounted by a ball finial with a semi circular trough also of 19th century date.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: DO 153
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-457483

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.