Opening of The Blind House

About

Have the rare opportunity to explore the inside of Trowbridge's Blind House!

One of Trowbridge’s most recognisable landmarks, The Blind House was used as a lock-up for ‘overnight guests’ of the law during the 18th and 19th centuries: wrongdoers locked up in the blindhouse would have ranged from serious criminals who would be held until they could be put before a justice and committed to trial, to drunks who would be released in the morning when they had sobered up. Sometimes, sympathetic bystanders would even fetch beer and feed it to the prisoners by using one of the long ‘churchwarden’ pipes pushed through a slit in the wall!

A wall carving in one of the cells dates the building at 1758, but some believe that it might date back to the late 17th century. The roof sustained serious damage in July 1942 when a German bomb fell on the upper part of Stallard Street, badly damaging what was the Royal British Legion Club (now Bridge House), and unfortunately resulting in the deaths of two civilians.