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Latitude: 51.4152 / 51°24'54"N
Longitude: -2.1215 / 2°7'17"W
OS Eastings: 391645
OS Northings: 168471
OS Grid: ST916684
Mapcode National: GBR 1RR.BF9
Mapcode Global: VH96K.5PSG
Plus Code: 9C3VCV8H+39
Entry Name: The Lock Up
Listing Date: 20 December 1960
Last Amended: 2 December 2016
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1022162
English Heritage Legacy ID: 315512
ID on this website: 101022162
Location: Lacock, Wiltshire, SN15
County: Wiltshire
Civil Parish: Lacock
Built-Up Area: Lacock
Traditional County: Wiltshire
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire
Church of England Parish: Lacock with Bowden Hill
Church of England Diocese: Bristol
Tagged with: Village lock-up
A late C18 village lock up.
A late C18 village lock-up.
MATERIALS AND PLAN: built of ashlar stone and is square on plan.
DESCRIPTION: a small, square building with coursed ashlar walls with low plinth and band at band at cornice level, and a domed ashlar roof surmounted by a ball finial. There are two buttresses to the north, and to the west the lock-up is joined to the adjacent tithe barn by a wall with a timber door giving access to the lock-up.
The door, with iron studs and thick straps with decorative ends, opens into a small flagged yard, which is roofed with an iron grille. The studded door into the lock-up itself is in a chamfered surround, and inside is a lavatory and modern timber bed. The lock-up is window-less but has a high ventilation hole.
Lock-ups or blind houses (so called for their dim interiors) are small buildings built as temporary holding places for offenders being brought before the local magistrate, and also for the incarceration of drunkards, vagrants and people disturbing the peace. They were often built by the parish or a wealthy local resident. The earliest recorded examples date from the C13, and most fell out of use in the mid-C19 when they were made redundant by the formation of a regular police service.
This lock-up in Lacock is thought to date from the late C18.
The Lock Up, East Street, Lacock, which is thought to date from the late C18, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as an interesting example of a village lock up, with pleasing detailing;
* Degree of survival: despite some repairs, the lock up survives mostly intact;
* Historic interest: as a reminder of early methods of maintaining law and order in rural areas;
* Group value: with the adjacent tithe barn (Grade I) are other listed buildings.
External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.
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