Take him down!!!!

Went into Tavistock today and we were surprised to see the old Magistrates Court were open, we had just missed the official tour but a lovely lady and gent showed us around the court anyway.

It's been closed since 2000 but is still in fairly good order, just some peeling paint - she showed us how small the seating area forme judges were, how big the area for spectators was (it was classed as being a form of entertainment). We were also shown the dock and my eldest lad Chris was good enough to stand in the dock (I think the lady thoughts he was younger than he is, 19 year olds aren't really into being photographed in daft places).

Here you can see Chris in the dock and the lower shot shows the steps down to the cells - if you were found innocent you left through the side door and then were free to go - if you found guilty you were taken down through the front door and down to the cells below, hence the expression, 'take him down'.

We were also told of the high tech way they stopped prisoners escaping from the court, there was only a bolt holding the door to the dock shut and should the prisoner be crafty enough to undo the bolt and make a run for the door, they were unable to escape because the door handle turned anti-clockwise instead of clockwise - genius. xx