This is the sixth in a series of events to bring us to some of the sites of correction used during the past in Derbyshire, with this one taking us to the House of Confinement in Alfreton.
Very common in the 18th & 19th centuries, a house of confinement was a type of lockup, which resembled a small dwelling. They were often positioned at the edge of a settlement & used for the temporary detention of prisoners. This may have simply been the village drunk or someone awaiting trial or a visit from the local magistrate. Sometimes they were used to hold prisoners being transported across country who needed housing overnight. The buildings were typically single rooms with a heavy door & a slit or barred window, but sometimes larger buildings were constructed if the population nearby was higher. In 1790 the Derbyshire Court of Quarter Sessions decreed that "all parishes in the county where there is not already a Round House, House of Correction or Gaol, shall provide a place of temporary confinement for the reception of vagrants, paupers, felons and the like".
There is conflicting evidence surrounding the history of Alfreton House of Confinement. According to Historic England, the Grade II Listed building dates from the mid 18th Century. However, William Christoph's poor rate assessment map of 1821 has the site as a garden, whilst an entry dated August 25th, 1826 in the Alfreton Poor Law Records has a payment of sixpence for cleaning the House of Confinement, suggesting that the building dates from the early 1820s! But by the mid 1840s, the building became obselete due to the construction of a new police station on Derby Road with four cells. We do know that it is built from coarse ashlar sandstone, with a stone roof. It consists of two bays with cells to each side & a corridor with a fireplace across the front. There are round window openings to the street, with iron bars. It is regarded as an unusually large example of a lockup.
This short event will give us an opportunity to meet up safely outside for some geochat & to swap trackables in hopefully peaceful & beautiful surroundings. There is some free street parking on Gooker Lane or you may choose to park in the supermarket car park opposite the event, but please check the restrictions there. There are plenty of caches in the area, if you haven't done them previously & I believe that there are several good places for breakfast in the town! There may even be a new cache published for the occasion...