The Lock-up

• Agricultural riots of 1820s and 1830s

Photos (others in WVA) taken in 2001 and later of the Lock-up or Round house. Also photo of lock-up mug, date not known.

This building was a temporary prison built in 1834 by local mason Cooper in the corner of the parish stone pit, where bull¬baiting continued after its suppression elsewhere. It was built of stones out of the parish pit. The date 1834 is quite certain as there are details about it in the minute book of the Vestry, as the body which then ruled the parish was called. The Lock-up was only used as such for six years. A press report in Oxford University and City Herald on 2 July 1853 refers to the building not being a 'fit or sufficiently healthy place in which to confine any person' and that the Superintending Constable recommended that some enlargement and improvement be made. There is no evidence of this having happened so, instead, it is more likely that the Lock-up was never again (if it had been which is doubted) used as a lock-up. Contemporary press reports refers to many such buildings, but all constructed quite differently, had been commissioned around Oxfordshire - all were referred to as Lock-ups.

Listing states 'Lock-up. 1834. By Cooper, mason. Squared coursed limestone rubble. Hexagonal pyramid plan. Heavy plank door with stone lintel. Apex cap and ball finial. Noted as containing stocks. Interior not inspected.
(V.C.H.: Oxfordshire, Vol.V, p. 109; Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, p.838).

The article explains the background to the need for this lock-up.

• Church Road, Recreation Ground, Quarry and Lock-up

• Stone Pit and Lock-Up
• The Quarry
• The Lock-up
• The Lock-up Survey 2001
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• The Lock-Up or Round House
• Quarry face
• Quarry face
• Wheatley Quarry
• Recreation Ground
• Booklet of eight views of Wheatley c.1950
• The Hinton Collection of early postcards of Wheatley - 1913-1915
• Postcard
• Recreation Ground
• Aerial view taken in 2000
• Bernard Hickey painting
• Assorted press cuttings from 1980 to 1982

• A 680