Strange Tourist Attraction: Bodmin Jail
One of the things that I like to do when I’m on vacation is to check out strange tourist attractions. Last year, (Sept. 2006) when I was in England I decided to check out Bodmin Jail or Bodmin Gaol as it used to be known as. I was in Cornwall anyway so I thought that it would be neat to check out. One of the reasons that I was keen to check out Bodmin Jail was because I had seen it featured on an episode of Most Haunted.
Bodmin Gaol opened in 1779 and has been labeled the first modern prison built in Britain. After reading The History of Bodmin Jail by Bill Johnson, I would have to concur, given the reforms and ideas that went into the building of this prison. Over the years, Bodmin Gaol went through a number of changes to the buildings and organization, including a major extension in 1859 to deal with overcrowding. At one point there was actually several prisons located on the site. These included the Civil Prison for males, The Civil Prison for females, The Debtors prison, the Naval Prison and at one point the prison for the Juvenile offenders (in the earlier days the juvenile offenders were lumped in with the rest of the civil prison.).
The History of Bodmin Jail makes no mention of hauntings or ghosts but quite a few people consider Bodmin Jail a very haunted place. This is no doubt due to the fact that hangings did take place at Bodmin Gaol. Between, 1785 to 1909 there were 56 executions. It should be noted that this was a much smaller number of prisoners who had been sentanced to death. Its supposed that the reminder were either transported, (I think thats a term for sent to Australia), sent to hulks or sentenced to long periods in gaol.
As for myself, although I didn’t see any ghosts or hear any strange noises (there were lots of tourists about anyway), I did feel very uneasy about the place and was glad to get out of Bodmin Jail. I didn’t feel at ease until we had driven out of the gates and had driven several blocks from the old walls.
Here’s a few pictures that I took at Bodmin Jail:
Bodmin Jail Execution Shed - In use from 1901-1909. I felt uneasy here.
A view of The Main Block (Male Civil Prison); at one time there would have been a roof over that area.
A re-creation of the Bodmin Jail Hospital. By the looks of the floor plans this tiny area couldn’t have been the actual Hospital or Infirmary.
A re-creation of the Bodmin Jail Electrotherapy Room. I’m not sure if they actually had an electrotherapy room at any time at Bodmin but it certainly lent a spooky air to the self-guided tour.
A re-creation of the overcrowded conditions at Bodmin Gaol in the 1800’s. There were lots of garish exhibits like this.
A re-creation of women knitting socks whilst in stocks at Bodmin Gaol. Knitting was one of the employment activities that women were given during the 1800’s.
All in all, I thought it was a pretty interesting tourist attraction. If you’re visiting Cornwall when you’re in England, be sure to stop by the Bodmin Jail if you like historical places and possible haunted places.
