Bodmin Jail

Still a menacing sight nearly a century after it closed, Bodmin Jail throws you into the life of a Victorian prisoner.

The jail was built in 1779 during the reign of King George III, using 20,000 tons of granite from the Cuckoo Quarry on Bodmin Moor.

And although the building looks forbidding from the outside, it came with a sophisticated heating and cooling system, while the wood-panelled Old Chapel (now a restaurant) feels very refined.

Bodmin Jail was secure enough to safeguard state papers, the Domesday Book and the Crown Jewels during the First World War.

You can make your way across six levels, entering the desolate cells and imagining the grim life of a prisoner in the 1800s.

It gets even grislier in the Execution Shed and hanging pit.

There’s no spookier place than Bodmin Jail to watch a scary movie, which you can do on Thursday nights, combined with a late-night tour of the passageways with a “medium”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Best Things to Do in Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire, England)

Image
The county town of Buckinghamshire is on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in the Aylesbury Vale’s verdant farmland. Aylesbury has some strong regional attractions like the County Museum, along with a state-of-the-art theatre that opened in 2010. The children’s author Roald Dahl was a Buckinghamshire resident and is remembered with a wonderful hands-on children’s gallery, attached to the County Museum. Aylesbury has a place in pop history, as the Friars Club here welcomed some of the biggest music acts of the 70s, and was where David Bowie performed as Ziggy Stardust for the first time. There’s a lovingly rendered statue for Bowie under the Corn Exchange on the Market Square. Let’s explore the best things to do in Aylesbury:
Read more

Wakefield Trinity

Image
Rugby League, as opposed to Rugby Union, is the second most popular sport in the North of England. Nearly all the teams playing in the Super League, Rugby League’s top competition, are based in this part of the country. In terms of style, Rugby League has a couple of things in common with American Football, one being that after a certain amount of tackles without scoring (six in Rugby League), the ball has to be handed over to the opposition. The local team, Wakefield Trinity are nicknamed the Dreadnoughts and play at the 9,333-capacity Belle Vue stadium. Trinity were big in Don Fox’s day in the 60s when they won most their league and Challenge Cup titles. But without spending big money, they have a reputation for over-achievement and finished 5th in the Super League in 2017.
Read more

Market Square

Image
This long, rectangular square in the heart of Aylesbury has fine buildings and interesting pockets of history all around. On the southeast end, beside the striking Corn Exchange is the Aylesbury Crown Court, which shut its doors for the last time in 2018. This Palladian building was completed in 1740, and in 1963 was where the culprits of the Great Train Robbery were sentenced. In front of the court is a statue for the soldier and politician Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham, who served in the Second Boer War. The bronze lions beside his statue come from the Rothschild estate at Waddesdon Manor and have been here since 1888. At the opposite end of the square there’s a narrow passageway through to the King’s Head Inn, one of the oldest pubs in the South of England. Aylesbury’s market trades on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and there’s a Vintage & Craft Bazaar on Tuesdays.
Read more