Bodmin Jail

Cornish Nights of Bodmin Jail

In 1779, Bodmin Jail’s granite walls, hewn by Napoleonic prisoners, housed Cornwall’s rogues. Over 150 years, 55 souls met the gallows—Sarah Polgrean, who poisoned her husband with arsenic in 1820, drew thousands. Yet, by 1930, those grim halls swung to a new beat. The 99 Club, a cabaret and nightclub, filled former cells with jazz, laughter, and clinking glasses. Revellers danced where inmates once paced, with mock executions as macabre fun. From the 1930s to 1980s, it was Bodmin’s unlikeliest hotspot, later hosting wrestlers and pints. Today, a £8.5M glow-up (2021) turned it into a luxe hotel and museum, its “Dark Walk” weaving Georgian tales. From our fisherman’s cottage, stroll Bodmin’s lanes—ghosts and jazz linger in the moor’s mist.