Breedon on the Hill lock up

English Buildings explains:

The lock-up was once a common sight in English towns and villages. The local constable found it useful to have a place where wrongdoers could be detained until the authorities could deal with them and hotheads and drunkards could be locked up until they cooled down. In other words, lock-ups were used in a similar way to the cells at the police station in a time before there was an organized police force.

This distinctive 18th-century lock up can be found in the village of Breedon on the Hill across the road from the pub and beneath the church and its cliff. There is a board outside giving its history and it is kept unlocked so you can go in and experience life as a Georgian felon.

English Buildings describes it:

The tiny, one-room building is all about security. There is a stout door, no windows, and – because tiles or shingles might be removed from inside by an inmate eager to climb out – a solid stone roof. The adjoining wall is part of a secure enclosure or pound, where stray animals could be kept until claimed by their owners.

A Leicester Shire Promotions leaflet reveals that the Breedon lock up is one of five surviving in this corner of South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire.