THE VILLAGE CELLS

Jail cells, High Street, Luddenden

The Village Cells are situated under the Old School Building at the bottom of Old Lane. The School was built in 1825 and presumably this was when the cells were incorporated into the structure. There are three doors, one has Warley carved into the Lintel, one Midgley. The third is not carved. The boundary between the Ancient Townships of Warley and Midgley was the Luddenden Beck just a few yards from the cells. Any buildings on the East side of the river were part of Warley and buildings on the West bank were part of Midgley. Any miscreants in the village would have been allocated one of these cold and damp cells depending on which side of the beck they inhabited (either from the Warley side or from the Midgley side) before they could be seen by their local magistrate. The third cell was presumably for miscreants from further afield.