Bodmin Moor Jail

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Bodmin Moor in itself is enough to send a chill down any spine. Its miles of misty, undulating grassland seem to go on forever, and the imposing granite tors are the only landmarks.

Prehistory has left its mark and many stone circles and burial tumuli add to the sense of mystery here, as do the stories of King Arthur and his knights, and the many other Cornish folk legends which have become linked with the moors.

Bodmin Jail was built in 1779, designed to take advantage of the fact that there was nowhere for the prisoners to escape to but the moor itself, and the hazards of cold, hunger and the treacherous, boggy ground. It is now partly in ruins and functions as a tourist attraction, interesting not only historically, for the strong impression it creates of what life must have been like for 18th and 19th Century prisoners, but for the stories of the long-dead inmates themselves.

Anne Jeffries was starved to death here, held under suspicion of being a Witch, Selina Wadge was executed for the murder of her illegitimate son and perhaps most famously, Matthew Weeks was hanged for the murder of his girlfriend Charlotte Dymond, whose ghost is said to wander across the moors by night to this day.

Britain's last public hanging (of murderer William Hampton) took place here in 1909 and his ghost, along with those of many other former prisoners, is said to have been seen here.

2 / 5 Review by editor larapiegeler

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4 / 5 Review by member Boo