Former lock-up c40m NE of Church Farm
Church Street, Hilperton, Wiltshire
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1194173
- Date first listed:
- 13-Nov-1962
- List Entry Name:
- Former lock-up c40m NE of Church Farm
- Statutory Address:
- Church Street, Hilperton, Wiltshire
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2000-08-21
- Reference:
- IOE01/01424/28
- Rights:
- © Gill Cardy. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1194173
- Date first listed:
- 13-Nov-1962
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 11-Nov-2016
- List Entry Name:
- Former lock-up c40m NE of Church Farm
- Statutory Address 1:
- Church Street, Hilperton, Wiltshire
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Church Street, Hilperton, Wiltshire
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Hilperton
- National Grid Reference:
- ST8722859269
Summary
A late-C17 village lock up or blind house, altered in the early C20, and restored in 1978.
Reasons for Designation
The late-C17 lock up c 40m north east of Church Farm, Hilperton, Wiltshire, altered in the early C20 and restored in 1978, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as an early and good example of a village lock up;
* Historic interest: as an interesting reminder of the development of maintaining law and order in rural areas in the late C17;
* Intactness: despite later alterations and its restoration in 1978, it has survived mostly intact;
* Group value: it forms an interesting group with the adjacent Hilperton War Memorial (listed Grade II).
History
The lock up or blind house in Hilperton dates from the late C17. It was altered in the early C20, when a door was inserted to the rear to allow access from an adjacent garden, but was subsequently restored in 1978.
Lock ups, or blind houses, are small buildings built as temporary prisons for the incarceration of drunkards, vagrants and people disturbing the peace. Generally stone built but occasionally wooden, they are square, round or octagonal and contained either one cell or one for either sex. A small, sometimes barred window was often included but the inside was always dim, hence the term 'blind house'. In some examples an iron cradle in which the prisoner slept survives. They were often built by the parish or as a gift to the village or town by a wealthy resident and are generally centrally placed within the settlement. Blind houses went out of use in the mid-19th century when they were made redundant by the formation of a regular police service.
Details
A late-C17 village lock-up or blind house, altered in the circa early C20, and restored in 1978.
MATERIALS: the lock up has limestone ashlar walls and roof.
PLAN: it has an unequal sided octagonal single cell plan.
EXTERIOR: the small, single storey building has a doorway with plain, limestone chamfered surround facing the street, and with a late-C20 door. The building has a plat band to a domed roof, and is topped with a ball finial. The rear, facing a private garden, was not inspected.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 314451
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1999), 271
Websites
Victoria County History - Wiltshire vol 7, accessed 19 September 2016 from http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol7/pp86-91
Other
Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record, ref MWI1316, held by Wiltshire Council
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 21:56:16.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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