A small building can be found off the High Street in Ewell that has a long heritage, as a jail.
Known as The Watch House, the small building appears to date from around 1777, and served a dual purpose as the store for the local hand-operated fire engine, and the local jail.
It has two doors, one on the left with bars for a temporary lock-up and one on the right for the Ewell fire engine, which can been seen today at the Bourne Hall Museum.
The roof appears to have been changed at some point if you compare old photos to the current design. Peering inside, a solitary photo can be made out in the gloom, otherwise it is a small empty wooden cell.
Only a small quirk of history, but nice to see such things preserved. It is sometimes opened to the public during the Heritage Open Days events. [map link]
I went inside some time in the early sixties when I was at Ewell Boys School(a Junior School long gone) in nearby West Street. The Plaque is part of an easily followable walk around the village. I have lived in the village for 57 years. Baptised, sung in the choir as boy and married in the nearby St. Mary’s, only the funeral to go.