A LISTED former jail and stocks has been sold at auction for £43,000.

Illingworth Gaol and Stocks on Keighley Road was built in 1823, and was where prisoners would spend the night before appearing at Halifax Magistrates.

The use as a jail ended in the 1860s, and the building has mainly been used for storage since then. Plans to turn the quirky building into a museum have been proposed, but never implemented.

The property went under the hammer at an online auction by Pugh last week, with a guide price of just £25,000.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Illingworth StocksIllingworth Stocks (Image: Pugh)

A stone engraving on the property recites a line from St Paul's Letter to the Ephesians IV 28: “Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labour with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth.”

The property eventually sold for £43,000, although details of the buyer have not been disclosed.