Newcastle Gaol

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Coordinates: 54°58′24″N 1°36′36″W / 54.9732°N 1.6100°W / 54.9732; -1.6100
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Newcastle Gaol
Newcastle Gaol
LocationCarliol Square, Newcastle upon Tyne
Coordinates54°58′24″N 1°36′36″W / 54.9732°N 1.6100°W / 54.9732; -1.6100
Built1828
ArchitectJohn Dobson
Architectural style(s)Fortress Gothic Revival Style
Newcastle Gaol is located in Tyne and Wear
Newcastle Gaol
Shown in Tyne and Wear

Newcastle Gaol was a custodial building in Carliol Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The building, which was the principal prison for the local area, was demolished in 1925.

History[edit]

Internal plan of the gaol

Newcastle Gaol was commissioned to replace the New Gate Gaol which dated from the 14th century.[1] By 1820, that prison was described by the grand jury at Newcastle assizes "as being out of repair and inconvenient, insufficient, and insecure." The site they chose for the new prison was Carliol Croft, a piece of open land in the east part of central Newcastle.[2]

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, Robert Bell, on 4 June 1823. It was designed by John Dobson in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £35,000 and was completed in February 1828.[3] The design involved a tall entrance tower with a gateway, behind which there was an elliptical main prison building with six radiating wings in the style of a panopticon.[4]

Following the implementation of the Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868, which abolished the practice of public executions, John William Anderson, who had been convicted of murdering his wife, became the first person to be executed inside the prison in December 1875.[5] In order to increase the capacity of the prison, the radiating wings were demolished in 1858 to make way for a single four-storey prison block.[6] Over-crowding increased in 1881, after Morpeth Gaol closed,[7] and, by 1890, the building was accommodating 300 prisoners, three times as many as it was designed for, in very cramped conditions.[8]

Notable prisoners included the suffragette, Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton, who was tried and convicted of disorderly behaviour after she threw a stone at a ministerial car during a visit to Newcastle by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, in October 1909. She was sentenced to one month in the prison and was subjected to force-feeding while on hunger strike.[9][10][11] John Dickman, who was convicted of murdering a wages courier on a train, became the last person to be executed in the prison, in August 1910.[12]

The constrained nature of the site meant there was very little room for expansion, and the prison was demolished in April 1925. The site was subsequently occupied by Telephone House, a structure commissioned to accommodate the Newcastle telephone exchange.[13][14][15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Newcastle's Newgate Street - from ancient brutal prison to modern entertainment complex". Newcastle Chronicle. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  2. ^ "The Streets of Newcastle - Newgate Street". The Monthly Chronicle of North-country Lore and Legend: 214–217. May 1889.
  3. ^ "Newcastle Gaol and House of Correction". Prison History. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Construction 1822–1828". Newcastle Gaol. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  5. ^ "John William Anderson". British Executions. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  6. ^ McCorristine, Shane (20 November 2019). "Prison break - new research aims to free the history of Newcastle gaol". Newcastle University. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Morpeth County Gaol and House of Correction". Prison History. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Operation 1828–1925". Newcastle Gaol. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  9. ^ Miller, Ian (2016). History of Force Feeding: Hunger Strikes, Prisons and Medical Ethics, 1909–1974. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 51. ISBN 978-3319311128.
  10. ^ Bulwer-Lytton, Lady Constance Georgina (2020). Prisons & Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences. Library of Alexandria. ISBN 978-1465610157.
  11. ^ "Suffragettes in Newcastle Gaol". Newcastle Gaol. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  12. ^ Marshall, Ray (7 March 2013). "Was last hanged man really a murderer?". North East Chronicle. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  13. ^ Morton, David (2 April 2015). "When Newcastle had its own prison complete with executions and a treadmill!". Newcastle Chronicle. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Newcastle, Carliol Square, Telephone House". TW Sitelines. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Newcastle City Gaol and House of Correction". National Archives. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
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