We decided on a visit to Bodmin county gaol. This cruel looking building must have struck the fear of God into those prisoners who saw it for the very first time. It looked very threatening from the top of the hill on the drive down. As we pulled up into the car park the heavens opened, I ran for cover only to find myself faced with a trap door and a noose! We bought our tickets at the bar and was handed a governors notice.
Once inside it was colder than it actually was outside. I peered into the small cells and I tried to imagine what it must have felt like to be imprisoned in such a dwelling ‘horrible’. We then walked onto a wing, each tiny cell housed with mannequins in various poses. One was called ‘Fed by the fairies’ – Anne Jefferies was born in 1826; apparently she attracted a large following in Cornwall. She was suspected of been a changeling (fairy offspring) in solitary confinement and not given any food continued to thrive, she insisted that every night the fairies brought food to her cell.
We then walked down to the naval jail it was a very tall building covered in overgrown shrubbery, but on the way whilst taking photos I looked up and noticed out of the corner of my eye a face in one of the high windows, it was slightly creepy but on closer inspection it was one of the mannequins that had been strategically placed, maybe by accident or by design, but it was quite amusing all the same.
Inside the naval jail looked similar to a modern jail in its design, rows of cells going as far as 4 floors. I bobbed my head in one or two to get a feel of them, I would have loved to have visited at night. No ghosts jumped out at me although it did feel very creepy, even during the daytime.
