Lock-ups, were also known as round houses, blind houses or clinks. They were used to holding places for short term detention of offenders being brought before a magistrate. Most fell out of use when police stations with their own holding facilities were established in the mid 19th Century.
Lock-ups are usually located in, or close to, village centres. The lock-up at Pensford is thought to have been constructed in the mid 18th Century and is shown on a 1776 estate map. At this time, it would have been adjacent to the market hall. In the mid 14th Century Pensford market was one of the most important in northern Somerset, but the textile industry on which it thrived had declined by the late 16th Century. A market on Pensford High Street continued until the market hall was demolished in the early 19.th Century.
The High Street through the village was the principal historic route between Wells and Bristol, and it is generally considered that that prisoners were held at the lock-up on overnight journeys to the Bristol assizes, whilst their guards stayed at the neighbouring coaching inn (built in 1752; Grade II). It was probably also used as an overnight cell for local drunks.
The building is clearly shown on the 1839 Tithe map and the 1885 Ordnance Survey (OS) as a round or octagonal building; later OS mapping appears to depict it as rectangular, but this
probably reflects the plinth on which it stands rather than its plan. The entrance door was
replaced in the 20th Century.
Inside is a single space, with a stone bench on the east side. The floor is of limestone
setts. One iron ring-shackle is fixed to the wall above the bench, and the ventilation slits have a single wrought-iron vertical bar.