Bodmin Jail

Cornish Nights of Bodmin Jail

Bodmin Jail rises from Cornwall’s granite heart, its formidable walls etched with centuries of shadow and story. Built in 1779 from stone cut by Napoleonic prisoners, it once held the county’s thieves, debtors, and murderers. For over 150 years, these echoing corridors bore witness to grim justice—55 public executions in all. Among them, Sarah Polgrean drew a crowd of thousands in 1820 after poisoning her husband with arsenic—her story still haunts the air like the moorland mist.

By 1930, the gallows were silent, but the building found a strange new rhythm. The 99 Club, a cabaret and nightclub, brought life back into the stone. Former cells pulsed with jazz, laughter, and clinking glasses, as locals and travellers alike danced beneath heavy beams where inmates once paced. In an odd twist of dark humour, mock executions became part of the night’s spectacle—Bodmin’s past turned playful, if chilling.

Between the 1930s and 1980s, the jail became Bodmin’s unlikeliest hotspot, hosting everything from wrestlers to rowdy pub nights. History clung to its walls, even as revellers added fresh memories between bouts of music and merriment. The past never left—it simply stepped aside for a while.

In 2021, an £8.5 million transformation gave Bodmin Jail new life once more, blending its eerie legacy with luxury. Now a stylish hotel and immersive museum, its “Dark Walk” exhibition invites you into the 18th and 19th centuries—complete with flickering lanterns, ghostly voices, and tales woven from Georgian Cornwall’s rougher edges.

From our fisherman’s cottage, you can follow the lanes into Bodmin’s heart, where the moor whispers and history stirs in every footstep. This isn’t just a historic prison—it’s a living chronicle, where ghosts, jazz, and wild tales linger just beneath the surface.