Wilton Lock Up House

Overview

Sources

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Overview

Nation   England

County   Wiltshire

Location   Kingsbury Square side of the Guildhall  Wilton

Map location   exact or closely approximate

Year opened   unknown

Year closed   unknown

Century of Operation   1700-1799, 1800-1899

Building Type   Prison

Remarks   Formerly a prison for persons confined from court of record, by 1835 only used as a lock up house. Volume 6 of the VCH for Wiltshire, states that the town gaol, 'known in the 16th century as "Brown's Bower", stood on the Kingsbury Square side of the Guildhall.'

Description

'There was formerly a prison in which persons were confined under the process of the court of record, and one person is remembered to have been confined in it about 60 years ago. The dimensions of the prison being small, he had the privilege of going out by day and ranging in the open air as far as a chain of 15 or 20 yards in length, by which he was attached, would allow him to go; and it was only during the night that he was in close confinement. The prison is now only used as a lock-up house'

Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 2 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIII.133), p.1401

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SOURCES

    Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 2 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIII.133), p.1401
  • 'The borough of Wilton: Introduction', in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6, ed. Elizabeth Crittall (London, 1962), pp. 1-7. British History Online [accessed 30 October 2019].

  • http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol6/pp1-7

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