I thought that the Bodmin Jail Museum deserved its own blog, because it was so blooming amazing! We pre-booked the guided tour, but as it was out of season, we would have been OK to just turn up, but I wouldn't risk it if you were visiting during peak times as you won't want to miss out!
For the guided tour it's £27.50 or you can do a self-guided one for £19.50. I say go for the guided option, you get to find out so much more. Our guide Gemma was really knowledgeable and able to answer any question we threw at her and we asked her a lot of questions!
The first bit of the tour is the "Dark Walk", which you go on on your own. Gemma assured us that no one would jump out at us, which was a relief for me as I hate those scare fest things. However if random actors jumping out at you is your jam, then the museum does do them.
It was just my sister Lucy and I on our tour and as we waited for the dark walk to begin, we did have a brief discussion about the fact it resembled the start of a horror film, two sisters trustingly going down a set of dark stairs to wait in a room for a stranger to show them the way. I mean, it's basic horror film stuff!
A hologram of a prison guard eventually appears and your walk begins.
The tour uses theatrical technology and takes you through the lives of some of the prisoners who passed through Bodmin Jail, my advice is pay attention to the names and stories as you meet them later in the tour.
This video doesn't do it justice, but it was a real moment.
You hear the stories of four other people and then witness their trial and sentencing. Sarah Polgrean, who poisoned her husband using arsenic, the Lightfoot Brothers who robbed and murdered a local trader, Neil Norway and Elizabeth Osborn who set fire to her neighbour's corn.
At the end of the dark walk, we met up again with Gemma and she showed us around the cells that are in the naval wing, right under where we were sleeping.
The cells are examples of how they would have been when the prison was first built in the early 1770's and the suggestions made by John Howard. It was home to male, female and child prisoners, as well as being utilised by the navy between 1887 and 1922. There are examples of how the cells would have looked throughout the years, the corporal punishment that was administered and the meaningless tasks that prisoners were given that constituted hard labour.
There's also a selection of rooms dedicated to different things, such as the Beast of Bodmin, the paranormal and the Governor's office. There were also some desk masks from some of the prisoners who'd met their fate at the gallows. Death masks always slightly freak me out, these were no exception, particularly as you could see rope marks around some of their necks.
The final bit of the tour is the gallows. 55 executions have taken place at Bodmin jail over the years. The jail tells the stories of the Lightfoot brothers, Elizabeth Commins, Elizabeth Osborne, Sarah Pelgrean and Matthew Weeks. The last man to be hanged at Bodmin was William Hampton, who was executed in July 1909 for murdering his girlfriend. The gallows was incredibly sobering, but as with everything else in the museum, it focuses on the history and doesn't pass judgement.
If you're in Cornwall and you love your history, then I highly recommend a visit to Bodmin Jail, it's informative, interesting, they use some amazing technology to bring the stories of the past to life. It'll also get you thinking and discussing some of the issues that were around when the jail was built and how some of those things are still an issue today.
My final word on Bodmin Jail Museum and I always judge a place on this is the quality of their gift shop...... they have a really awesome one!
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