The House of Correction occupies the site of a medieval castle where
once the moat and earthworks where sited. Planned as a local prison, it was
originally intended for minor offenders – the idle (regarded as subversive) and
the disorderly.
Folkingham had a house of correction by 1611, replaced in 1808
by a new one built inside the castle moat and intended to serve the whole of
Kesteven. This was enlarged in 1825 and given a grand new entrance.
In 1878 the
prison was closed and the inner buildings converted into ten dwellings, all
demolished in 1955. The grand entrance alone survives. It was designed by Bryan
Browning, an original and scholarly Lincolnshire architect also responsible for
the Sessions House at Bourne. It is a bold and monumental work, intended to
house the turnkey, and the Governor’s horses and carriage. Now it gives
entrance only to a moated expanse of grass – a noble piece of architecture in a
beautiful and interesting place.
Guest comments
Anyone who
doesn’t love their stay here needs to be locked up.… the children were
particularly taken with the handcuffs.
Alas, parole
came too early! An all too short sentence!