Wavertree Lock-up is an 18th-century

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

village lock-up located in

Wavertree Wavertree is a district and suburb of Liverpool, in the county of Merseyside, England. It is a Ward (country subdivision), ward of Liverpool City Council, and its population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 14,772. Located to ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England.

History

Funded by local residents, the lock-up was constructed in 1796 as a

drunk tank A drunk tank is a jail cell or separate facility accommodating people who are intoxicated, especially with alcohol. Some such facilities are mobile, and may be spoken of as "booze buses". Traditionally, and in some jurisdictions currently, the ...

to hold intoxicated persons overnight. Prior to its construction a local unpaid

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

was charged with looking after drunks in their own home all the while claiming an expense of 2 shillings. Eventually, it became cheaper for a lock-up to be built rather than house drunks with a constable and therefore the building was constructed. Made from yellow

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, the building is octagonal in shape, two storeys high and made of local

. During the 1840s the lock-up served as an isolation room for

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

victims and later during the Irish famine accommodation for families. In 1869, James Picton replaced the building's original flat roof with a pointed one to prevent prisoners from escaping through the building's roof.

References

External links

* {{commons category inline, Wavertree lockup Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Buildings and structures completed in 1796 Unused buildings in Liverpool 1796 establishments in England Grade II listed prison buildings

History

See also

References

External links