Being one of Hampshire’s first prisons, Odiham Bridewell became a large part of Hampshire’s history. Located at The Bury on Church Street, the small, six roomed Bridewell held at most 14 prisoners at one time. The building itself in 1812 contained one day room, a men’s sleeping room and a smaller women’s sleeping room. Both rooms had iron grated windows and loose straw on the floor. As well as having no rules or orders, the prison was also recorded to be dirty; this being a possible reflection of its keeper William Brown[1]. William Brown, a sheriff’s officer, gave his prisoners 17 oz of bread a day and did not regularly clean the rooms. He converted the largest room in the building into his personal brewery and rented out the remaining two rooms to anyone that paid.
Odiham publication copyright © The Odiham Society 2003
The building itself has been through its own historical journey since its opening in 1742. Odiham Bridewell went through a brief closure after the Michaelmas Quarter Session of October 1823 and, unfortunately for historians, the only Hampshire Quarter sessions recorded were after 1858 meaning the reason behind the closure is unknown. In 1835 the Bridewell got reopened as a prison but only held up to eight prisoners. After is closure in 1847 it was converted into a police station[2]. The police station was active from 1847 to 1972 and between the years 1882 to 1970, the old brewery room was used as a magistrate’s court[3]. Present day, the old Bridewell building is used as the Odiham Library, which is home to the great Odiham Embroidery[4].
With few prisoner records surviving, and only those pertaining to aspects of management still in existence[5], information on Odiham’s backyard prison is limited. What can be deduced is keeper William Brown did not care for the criminals he kept, and its brief closure could possibly be related to his treatments. Odiham still recognises the buildings history and a guided information walk around the town is available for tourists looking for more information about the Bridewell.
[1] ‘State Of The Prisons In England, Scotland, And Wales : Extending To Various Places Therein Assigned, Not For The Debtor Only, But For Felons Also, And Other Less Criminal Offenders. Together With Some Useful Documents, Observations, And Remarks, Adapted To Explain And Improve The Condition Of Prisoners In General : Neild, James, 1744-1814 : Free Download, Borrow, And Streaming : Internet Archive’ (Internet Archive, 2020) <https://archive.org/details/stateofprisonsin00neil/page/254/mode/2up?q=guildford> accessed 9 August 2020
[2] Prison History: Odiham County Prison <https://www.prisonhistory.org/prison/odiham-county-bridewell/> accessed 9 August 2020
[3] Local Blue Plaque Project – The Odiham Society <https://odiham-society.org/projects/the-blue-plaque-project/> accessed 9 August 2020
[4] Visit Odiham | Odiham Village in Hampshire <https://www.visitodiham.org.uk/> accessed 9 August 2020
[5] (2020) <https://calm.hants.gov.uk/Overview.aspx?s=odiham+bridewell> accessed 13 September 2020
Written by Alfie Gelder