The Links, Belmont Hill, Newport

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 30 Jun 2013

To be found on the east side of the main road at the northern end of the village. The style of the building is typical of the 18th century, but the whole thing is a penny-pinching job - even the stables of many a Georgian house were built in grander style, using finer materials. So I thought at first that this might be a workhouse - it has much in common with one I had seen earlier in the day: Image The picture contains a definite clue to the building's past - though I didn't notice it at the time I took the photo. The carved stone panel up in the gable shows chains and manacles (or perhaps leg-irons). A bit of googling revealed that the place was built as a bridewell - a prison whose régime was supposed to reform vagrants, beggars and the work-shy by forcing them to work. Despite its squalid origins the building has survived to be converted to domestic accommodation. Grade II listed: http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-409652-the-links-newport-essex

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0