THERE was nothing unusual about the round-house on the Green. Many communities had such a lock-up, where the parish constables could place drunkards and apprehended suspects. Some still stand. Examples are to be seen at Weldon and Harrold.

About 1916, J Enos Smith attempted to find out more about the Rushden version, and wrote down his findings in a notebook which he called "Workhouse Book". He interviewed "people who remember it", and reproduced entries from the parish books which referred to it. "I am told that it was a brick building with a low doorway and a grating (or iron bars) over the door". The entries from the parish accounts ("copied from the original books exactly as found. JES") show that it was built by John Burkit for £41 12s in June 1821. Various repairs were paid for, up to January 1833. A man who had helped in its demolition could not remember when that was. Enos Smith might have been glad to know the following story.

The last person in the round-house was a young Scottish vagrant, exactly a hundred and fifty years ago. On the bitterly cold evening of 15th January 1848, he arrived in Higham Ferrers, and went into the White Hart, where the landlady allowed him to sit by the fire. One of the company handed him a pint of ale, and told him that he had paid for a bed for him. Pleased with his good fortune, the youth sat there till a late hour, and then requested a light to take to his bed. At that point, he found that he was the victim of a cruel joke. Neither his ale nor bed had been paid for. He took to the road.

Near Rushden, a man in a gig came by. The young man called out and asked for a ride. The request was not loud enough to be heard properly, or the driver did not understand the accent. He drove on, but thinking the youth to be suspicious, he directed the constable to take him to the overseers. They ordered him to be locked up for the night in the round-house. The poor fellow stood up all night in that wretched place. He dared not lie down because it was too cold, and he could hear rats.

The lad was taken before Wellingborough Magistrates, as a vagrant without visible means of support. When they heard what had happened, the Chairman (T Wilkins) severely reprimanded everyone concerned. "Had the man died during the night he was in the round-house, you would all have been accused of manslaughter. I caution you as to your future proceedings."