The Court House, Barking, Greater London
The court house was built in 1567. The Court room was on the first floor. The ground floor was in 3 parts. The middle section was open to the street and held a market. The southern end had a caretaker's house. The northern end held a 'cage' or lockup and the parish stocks. Lockups were used for locking up petty criminals, people who were drunk or people waiting to go to court. They were often built as part of a complex including the village pound, stocks and pillory. They date back to around the 1560s. Generally the lockup was used by the parish constable who had the unpaid job of keeping law and order, in his own parish, before a national police force was set up.
