Lock-up at Monkton Combe

Summary

A late C18 Bath stone lock-up with domical roof located on Mill Lane in Monkton Combe.

Reasons for Designation

The lock-up at Monkton Combe is listed at Grade II for the following reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as an interesting example of a village lock-up with pleasing detailing;
* as a remarkably intact survival of this particular building type with an unusual two cell design.

Historic interest:
* as a reminder of early methods of maintaining law and order in rural areas;
* for its unusual location outside the village centre and association with the Somerset Coal Canal.

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 13th century, and most fell out of use when police stations with their own holding facilities were established in the mid-C19.

Monkton Combe lock-up is claimed to have been built around 1776 and is located on Mill Lane in the village of Monkton Combe in North Somerset, close to the City of Bath. It is marked on the 1840s Town Plan and 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888. Leslie Brooke in her book entitled ‘Some West-Country Lock-Ups in the Counties of Somerset’ states that a sketch from 1850 shows stocks immediately in front of the door of this building, however the original source of this information has not been found and these stocks no longer exist.

Lock-ups are usually located in, or close, to village centres. However, the lock-up in Monkton Combe is located on Mill Lane, some distance from the village centre. This unusual location is thought to be related to the nearby Somerset Coal Canal. The Canal was under construction in the 1790s and the lock-up would have been well placed for the detention of workers who had committed an offence. The canal has since been filled in.

The lock-up has undergone various schemes of repair and restoration. It was repaired in 1906 and further restored in 1953. In 1968 another major restoration replaced the iron-studded door. The grille is likely a replica of the original design. In 2003, 2014 and 2021 further restoration and repair works were undertaken to preserve the structure.

Details

Late C18 Bath stone lock-up.

MATERIALS: Bath stone walls and roof with timber door and metal grille.

PLAN: square plan.

EXTERIOR: a small square plan ashlar Bath stone lock-up with domical stone roof and string course. The north-western elevation has a narrow square headed door opening with an iron studded plank door. The door has long strap hinges with large lozenge shaped ends and a barred peep hole. Next to the doorway is a vertical iron bar and a small metal plaque. The south-west elevation has two irregular sets of ventilation holes just below the string course. The south-east and north-east elevations have a stone plinth to accommodate the changing ground levels. The south-east elevation also has several modern metal hooks embedded into the mortar joints.

INTERIOR: the lock-up is divided north-south into two rectangular windowless cells by a stone partition with internal doorway with a recess for the cell door (removed). The floor is flagstone and the space is open to the internal face of the domical roof.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

400163

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
Prison History - Monkton Combe Lock Up, accessed 12 September 2024 from https://www.prisonhistory.org/lockup/monkton-combe-lock-up/
Somerset Lock-Ups, accessed 28 October 2024 from https://roys-roy.blogspot.com/2013/07/somerset-lock-ups-at-brompton-regis.html

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