Blind houses are miniature lockups employed for the short term
detention of miscreants. Although most could barely accommodate one
person, often several detainees were locked up, possibly with a
guard. There are over a hundred in England and have several names
including round house, lockup or clink. They provided a place for
the local constable to put drunks, vagrants, brawlers and
disreputable women as well as those more serious offenders in
transit to the county assizes. Windows are always absent, hence the
name with light and ventilation coming only from tiny grilles. Most
were free-standing, constructed of stone with heavy wooden nailed
doors. Most Wiltshire blind houses date from the 18th century
although there are couple older. More information can be found in
Mary Delorme's excellent book, Curious Wiltshire.
Shrewton blind house was the first to catch my eye and is one of
the most pleasing on the eye. It was moved from its original
location some years ago to make way for road widening, see picture
below (thanks to Chris H of the Chens), but still takes pride of
place in the middle of the village. On a busy road so keep an eye
on the kids.
The north Wiltshire half of this series is owned by Hamfist and
can be found at the following waypoints:
The list will be updated as more are added.
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Lacock GC1MRDF
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Bradford on Avon GC1MP4M
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Luckington GC1N2QP
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Malmesbury GCN2RK
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Castle Combe TBA