Lock-up at Pensford

Summary

Lock-up, mid-C18.

Reasons for Designation

The lock-up at Pensford, Somerset is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as an interesting example of an octagonal village lock-up constructed from local stone;
* as a remarkably intact survival of this particular building type.

Historic interest:
* as a reminder of early methods of maintaining law and order in rural areas, reinforced through its location on the route from Wells to Bristol Assizes;
* for its prominent position adjacent to Pensford’s historic market place.

Group value:
* with the nearby Grade II-listed George and Dragon Public Inn, a former coaching inn which may have provided accommodation for prison guards.

History

Lock-ups, also known as round houses, blind houses and clinks, are holding places for short term detention of 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 in England dates from the C13; most fell out of use when police stations with their own holding facilities were established in the mid-C19.

Lock-ups are usually located in, or close to, village centres. The lock-up at Pensford is thought to have been constructed in the mid-C18 and is shown on a 1776 estate map. At this time, it would have been adjacent to the market hall; in the mid-C14 Pensford’s market was one of the most important in North Somerset, but the textile industry on which it thrived had declined by the late-C16. A market in this location on the High Street continued until the market hall was demolished in the early-C19.

The High Street through the village was the principal historic route between Wells and Bristol, and it is generally considered that prisoners were held at the lock-up on overnight journeys to the Bristol assizes, whilst their guards stayed at the neighbouring coaching inn (built in 1752; Grade II). It was probably also used as an overnight cell for local drunks.

The building is clearly shown on the 1839 Tithe map and the 1885 Ordnance Survey (OS) as a round or octagonal building; later OS mapping appears to depict it as rectangular, but this probably reflects the plinth on which it stands rather than its plan. The entrance door was replaced in the C20.

Details

Lock-up, mid-C18.

MATERIALS: mixed rubble-stone, including limestone.

PLAN: octagonal.

EXTERIOR: the lock-up is octagonal in plan, on a low stone plinth and is built into a bank at the rear (east), and with a later wall built at an angle against its south side. It is constructed of rubble-stone with freestone dressings, and its domed ashlar roof with a ball finial is set back from the main body of the building. The entrance is central on the west elevation with a step up from the road, and a high step into the building. The plank door is a C20 replacement. On each face flanking the door is a high-level ventilation slit.

INTERIOR: a single space, with a stone bench on the east side. The floor is of limestone setts. One iron ring-shackle is fixed to the wall above the bench, and the ventilation slits have a single wrought-iron vertical bar.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

32625

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Brooke, L, Some West-Country Lock-Ups in the Counties of Somerset, Dorset, Avon, Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall, (1985), 16

Websites
Bath & North East Somerset Historic Environment Record, accessed 08/01/2025 from https://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/62638
Prison History, accessed 08/01/2025 from https://www.prisonhistory.org/lockup/pensford-lock-up/
Publow with Pensford Parish Council: Parish Chronicle, accessed 08/01/2025 from https://www.publow-with-pensford-pc.gov.uk/parish-chronicle-2/
Roy’s Blog: SOMERSET. Lock-ups at Buckland Dinham and Pensford (photos), accessed 08/01/2025 from http://roys-roy.blogspot.com/2013/07/somerset-lock-ups-at-buckland-dinham.html

Other
Tithe Map, Publow, Somerset, 1839
Ordnance Survey, Somerset (1885) (1:2500)
BANES Planning Services, Pensford Conservation Area Character Appraisal, 2008

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