19th Century Prison History : 19th Century Prison Search

Monkton Combe Lock Up

Overview

Location   Mill Lane  Monkton Combe

County   Somerset

Year Opened   c.1776

Year Closed   unknown

Century of Operation   1700-1799, 1800-1899

Remarks   Constructed c. 1776. Author Leslie Brook notes that it was situated away from the centre of the village and near to the Somerset Coal Canal, which was under construction in the 1790s and so may have supplied navvies for inmates, the men having spent their wages in the local pub!

Door to the lock-up. It is not the original, but a replacement installed during restoration work in 1968.© Rosalind Crone ExteriorPhoto © David Martin (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Further information can be found at
https://www.prisonhistory.org/lockup/monkton-combe-lock-up/

Descriptions

  • 'The Lock-up in Mill Lane is a small 17th/18th century blind house. It is square in plan with domical stone roof and a narrow, square headed door opening for a studded door with barred peep-hole.'
    Pastscape, 'Monument No. 204165'

  • 'Lock-up. Mid - late C18, probably c.1776. Ashlar. Square on plan with a plinth at the rear. Domical stone roof. Narrow square headed door opening; plank door with barred peep hole. No windows.'
    Historic England, National Heritage List for England, 'Lock Up, LEN 1288263'

  • 'Built of Bath stone, the lock-up at Monkton Combe is some nine feet square, has a domed roof which is without the ball finial generally found in this type ... Its iron-studded door leads to two cells inside, one of which has only a few small holes for the admission of air. A sketch of 1850 shows stocks immediately in front of the door of this building, but these no longer exist.'
    Leslie Brooke, Some West-Country Lock-Ups (Castle Cary, Fox Publications, 1985), pp. 16, 95 (sketch)

Sources

  • Pastscape, 'Monument No. 204165'
    http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=204165
  • Roy's Blog, 'SOMERSET. Lock-ups at Brompton Regis, Monkton Combe and Westbury on Trym.' (13 July 2013)
    http://roys-roy.blogspot.com/2013/07/somerset-lock-ups-at-brompton-regis.html
  • Monkton Combe Village Website (account of repairs to lock-up and listing process)
    http://www.monktoncombe.com/about/lockup.htm
  • Historic England, National Heritage List for England, 'Lock Up, LEN 1288263'
    https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1288263
  • Leslie Brooke, Some West-Country Lock-Ups (Castle Cary, Fox Publications, 1985), pp. 16, 95 (sketch)