Wynmelvin » Bodmin Jail http://blog.wynmelvin.com [ the blog ] Sat, 06 Aug 2011 10:15:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 September 17th, 2009 http://blog.wynmelvin.com/2009/09/september-17th-2009/ http://blog.wynmelvin.com/2009/09/september-17th-2009/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:44:27 +0000 Russell http://blog.wynmelvin.com/?p=404 WADEBRIDGE — Today I drove to Bodmin to visit two tourist attractions with a crime and punishment theme. I found a car park easily enough, but being at the bottom of a hill I figured the way to go was up—wrong! I ended up walking twice the distance I needed to if I’d gone in the other direction.
The first attraction was The Courtroom Experience where you sit in on a famous Cornish murder trial as a member of the jury and cast your vote at the end.

It is held in Courtroom No. 1 in what was once the County Court but is now the Shire Hall. The drama presented is the trial of Matthew Weeks for the murder of Charlotte Dymond in 1844. The case against Matthew was based on circumstantial evidence but he was found guilty and hanged in August 1844.
Afterwards, we were taken down to see the holding cells where prisoners awaiting their turn at trial were kept. They are extremely small as they were designed to rstrict the prisoners ability to harm themselves or attempt to escape. Seeing them was particularly poignant as Josiah Hewitt would have been held in one of these for both his committal and trial. He may also have stood in the dock in Courtoom No. 1. Courtroom No. 2 now hosts an information desk, gift shop and gallery.

I discovered the shorter way back to the car and drove the short distance to Bodmin Jail. It was after noon when I arrived so I enjoyed a lunch in the jail’s restaurant and then took a look around the exhibit. Both the civil and naval wings of the jail are in ruins but the Office and Administration Block is largely intact. Each of the rooms and cells contain a tableau of a scene from either prison life or a crime committed that led the offender to become an inmate.
More family connections as at least three of my Cornish 3 × great grandfathers did time either in the jail or in the Bridewell, as did Josiah.
The jail is also supposed to be one of the most haunted places in Britain, and while I took quite a few photographs, there is nothing in them that shouldn’t be there.

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