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Serving the communities of Bures St Mary and Bures Hamlet

Circa 1882

The village gaol was located in Church Square on the right of the photo.

Like most villages at the turn of the century, Bures maintained its very own gaol. There was nothing unusual in this, most villages locked up their troublesome parishioners to keep them out of harms way.

This old photograph looking towards Chambers Corner possibly shows the "Lockup" to the left of the houses. Today, there is an entrance gate into the churchyard by the vicarage entrance. It is believed the lock-up was to the right of this gate.

There was a large open shed called the "Prisoners Cage" adjoining two old cottages in the Church yard where the War Memorial now stands. On Saturday nights, there was often a rowdy crowd from nearby villagers, several of them getting drunk and often ending in a fight. The ring leaders were put into the "Prisoners Cage" by the police and kept there until morning, when they were taken to Boxford before a magistrate

Drunks were the most prevalent residents, so little has changed then !

Compared to the photograph above, no evidence of these buildings exist. Replaced with Church boundary wall and War Memorial.

Acknowledgement to Peter Richards for his help & photographs