Elland Gaol & Stocks

There was lockup and stocks at the Cross, near Elland Parish Church.
One of the last victims of the stocks was John Ogden who was arrested in October 1863.
A new gaol was built in 1821 at South End, opposite Elland Town Hall. The pinfold was in a yard next to the prison and the old stocks were moved to the new prison. The old prison was used as the Boys' Sunday School for the Parish Church.
In the 1880s, the building ceased to be a jail when a new police station was built at Burley Street.
The old prison was known as the Old Town's Rooms, after it was adapted as a meeting room, where the Old Men's Parliament - or Pinfold Parliament - gathered on most days. The Old Town's Rooms were the site for the first public library in Elland and was used as a bus and tram shelter.
By the late 1880s the stocks were falling into disrepair until a local Press campaign resulted in them being refurbished.
In 1963, the prison was demolished to make way for a road scheme, and there is a roundabout on the site.
Above the entrance to the prison was a stone with the words
Whoso keepeth the Law is wise
When the gaol was demolished, this plaque was rescued, along with the stocks. In 1977, the plaque was installed above one of the doors at Elland Area Council Offices in Elizabeth Street, and the stocks - now listed - were re-erected in the adjoining garden

[@pamelakolberg7771]

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[@nigelbarker4135]

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