School Trips
Bodmin Jail is one of the best school trip destinations in the county of Cornwall; one of the most useful places for teaching staff and students to visit, it's a fantastic educational trip experience and its right on your doorstep!
Studying changes to crime and punishment? Interested in Georgian and Victorian social history?
Going into the Gothic worlds of the seventeen and eighteen hundreds? If you are looking for a truly
inspiring experience for your students that gets you up close and personal with history then you
cannot miss Bodmin Jail.
We offer one of the best school trip destinations in the West Country. Our experienced, award
winning guides will delight, enthral and encourage your students, bringing history alive and making it relevant, meaningful and unforgettable.
From Key Stage 2 to university and post grad, our tours are designed to hit the key areas of the
curriculum while presenting history with the passion and sensitivity it deserves. Our extremely
knowledgeable and experienced guides make history zing for all ages.
For teachers we provide the ‘Bodmin Jail Broadside,’ – two documents designed to help lesson
planning and focused on the Georgian and Victorian periods. These broadsheets enable learning
beyond your visit, encouraging students to discuss what they have heard and to reinforce their
learning outcomes.
Your History Tour
Tailored to your classes’ requirements, your journey starts in the Dark Walk, a fully immersive,
interactive experience, that takes students into the world of the Georgians and Victorians, where
they can see case studies, understand the nature of the crimes being committed historically in the
West Country and meet some of the jail’s former inhabitants. From there, your personal tour guide
will take you into the depths of the prison for a private tour designed to engage your students
directly with history. Follow the changes to crime and punishment from the 1600s to the 1900s,
examine historical case studies, understand the changes to social history and investigate the history of hanging.
Please email groupsales@bodminjail.org or call 01208 76292 to discuss your tour.
Bodmin Jail – custodians of history
Our aim is not only to preserve and re-tell the story behind the jail’s rich heritage, but to inspire the
next generation of historians, novelists, designers, engineers and film makers; to give that little spark that may just launch a brilliant career.
''We felt really well looked after and the tour itself was excellent. Our Tour Guide was incredibly
enthusiastic and had a great rapport with the group. They learned so much from her. The picnic
facilities for lunch were great. We all had a great day, and it was a perfect way to deepen our
understanding of the learning that has been taking place in the classroom. We would definitely like
to visit again.'' - Mount Hawke Academy
The Executioners Of Bodmin Jail
Bodmin Jail has a dark and often gruesome history. 55 executions took place within its formidable walls; some for what we today would call petty offences, others for crimes such as rape, murder and stealing.
Book Of Executions
On the 28th of May 1813, Elizabeth Osborne went out at night with just one purpose in mind, and that was to exact revenge on her former employer John Lobb.
John Foulston and The Plymouth Connection
John Foulston was appointed as Plymouth's first Town Architect in 1810.