Luckington schoolchildren enjoyed a trip behind bars when they visited the village lock-up last week.

Headteacher Haydn Reynolds took 12 pupils from year five and six to the spooky cell, which is now used as storage space by the parish council.

"The children thought it was a bit creepy as it was full of cobwebs and spiders. They found graffiti including names and dates on the walls dating back to the turn of the century," said Mr Reynolds.

The children visited the lock-up as part of their project on the local environment. They have been visiting places including farms, and village buildings as part of their geography lessons.

Lock-ups used to exist in most towns and villages before the 1900s. The local police constable would lock up drunks and people acting boisterously for the night to let them calm down in a secure place.

"We speculated on the dates of one man in 1914. I told the children a yarn and said it could have been his last party in the local inn before going off to war. Perhaps he over did it and ended up in the lock-up," said Mr Reynolds.

The school intends to let all the pupils go to visit the lock-up throughout the term.

"The lock-up hasn't been used for quite a long time but there are still quite a lot of them around," said Mr Reynolds. "There is one in Bradford on Avon and Lacock. At one time very town and village had a police constable and a lock-up."