One of a series of caches near Wiltshire blind houses.
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 a couple somewhat older. More information can be found in Mary Delorme's excellent book, Curious Wiltshire.
Malmesbury is unique in that it has two blindhouses. They are situated on either side of the arched entrance to the Abbey Grounds from the Market Place. You'll see no domed roof on either one. Both have nail studded doors, but there the similarity ends. The one on the right is a 'high-security' blindhouse, no windows and a heavily studded door with massive hinges and two locks. The one on the left is for less 'risky' in-mates, there's less studding on the door and a much larger keyhole, through which the unfortunate detainee could see at least a little of what was going on in the outside world!
The cache is a magnetic 35mm film container inside which is only a small logbook. It is located several paces into the wide walkway which lies on your left as you face the blind-houses pictured above. Always beware of muggles, and please replace cache securely - thanks