Huntingdon Old County Gaol
A gaol (pronounced "jail") had been built by 1768 in Orchard Lane in Huntingdon. Conditions were appalling even by early 19th century standards, and it was closed in 1830. The barred windows are still visible today at ground level. Few records survive.
Huntingdon New County Gaol
The New County Gaol and House of Correction was built in 1829 in St Peters Road, Huntingdon. The building was enlarged in 1850. In 1877 the Home Office took control of the prison, which was closed in 1892, and its prisoners were transferred to Bedford.
Huntingdonshire Archives has a number of documents of the prison, including some registers of prisoners admitted, correspondence re the construction of the gaol, and a poster of 1847 giving notice of seven escaped prisoners. The habitual criminal returns (1870-78) include photographs of offenders.
Lock-ups
Towns and villages often had lock-ups or "cages" where offenders could be temporarily held before being moved to the County Gaol to await trial. Very few records of these lock-ups survive.
The County Gaol, Cambridge
The Old Norman castle on Castle Hill in Cambridge was used as a gaol from at least the mid fourteenth century. Before 1601 a Bridewell was made from the old castle barracks, with a separate keeper, but by Howard’s time in 1776 the positions of keeper and gaoler had merged. The gallows stood in the castle courtyard. The gaol was maintained in a far better condition than the borough one next to the guildhall.
The increasing number of Bridewell inmates and the shortage of solitary cells led to demands for a new gaol and House of Correction, and in 1802 - 07 a new octagonal County Gaol was built on the castle site, designed by G. Byfield on Benthamite principles. This new gaol was used until 1915, prisoners after that date being sent to Bedford or Holloway.
The prison building was demolished in 1928 - 9, and the site is now occupied by the county’s Shire Hall (which indeed uses bricks from the prison in its walls).
Few records survive relating to the early phases of the prison but there are plans of the buildings from 1801 - 1913 and lantern slides depicting the prison in 1740 and 1815 [23/Z 178-9]. The record office also holds registers of prisoners, 1885-1916, female prisoners 1893-1914, officers, 1897-1916 and photographic registers of prisoners, 1884-1905 [1271/]
Calendars of prisoners and dietaries can sometimes be found amongst the Cambridgeshire Quarter Sessions rolls which commence 1730 and reports and accounts of gaolers and gaol committees may appear in the Quarter Sessions order books.
Cambridge Borough Gaol
Cambridge was granted the right to its own gaol in 1224. By the sixteenth century prisoners were being kept in a building known as the Tollbooth, which was situated next to the Guildhall. Described by Carter in 1753 as “a shocking place to be confined in” with no fireplace, exercise yard or water supply, it was replaced in 1790 by a second gaol, built in St Andrew’s Street behind Hobson’s Spinning House.
In 1829 this was in turn abandoned and replaced, at great expense, by a gaol, on the south -east side of Parkers Piece; the site is now occupied by the YMCA and a multi-storey car park.
Finally, in 1878 this gaol, too, was pulled down under the provisions of the Prisons Act, and all borough prisoners were sent to the County Gaol.
A limited number of sources relating to the buildings, reports on conditions, and accounts can be found among the Borough archives at Cambridgeshire Archives including a gaol delivery of 1503 [PBX/27] the deed and contract for the new gaol, 1828-9 and the gaol sessions (mainly reports of the gaoler and chaplain) which can be found in the Borough Petty Sessions minutes, 1844-78.
The accounts of John Payne, gaoler 1821-39 also survive [R96/19] and there are illustrations of the third gaol [R58/5/7 p.292, X20/107]. Registers of prisoners cover a limited period only; 1850-1859 [1271/].
Prisoners are listed by name in the 1841 census [HO.107/85/24] and 1851 [HO107/1760/78b].
Initials only appear in the 1861 census [RG9/1024/68a] and 1871 [RG10/1857/29a]
Hobson’s Spinning House
The Spinning House was founded in 1628 by Thomas Hobson, the carrier, to serve both the university and the borough as a bridewell (or house of correction) and as a workhouse, although the latter function was gradually dropped. A building for this purpose was erected in St Andrew’s Street.
It became associated with the correction of prostitutes and served as the University Vice-Chancellor’s gaol for this purpose, although, until 1829, other petty offenders were also sent there by the borough magistrates. In 1852 the northern part of the building was used as the Vice-Chancellor’s prison, and the southern part as a lock-up and police station. The building was handed over to the Borough in 1897 and demolished in 1901.
As the Spinning House was controlled by the University, most original records relating to prisoners and administration are held at the University Library, but useful secondary sources available at Cambridgeshire Archives include:
Victoria County History of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely Vol II pp.107-111, III, pp.121-122, illus. opp. pp.77
Annals of Cambridge 1845 Vol. III pp. 230-237 C.H. Cooper
Memorials of Cambridge Vol. III pp.144-47 C.H. Cooper 1860
Lists of prostitutes also appear in the 1851 census [HO107/1760/596a] and in the 1871 along with other prisoners [RG10/1589/17a]
Ely Gaol
The Old Gaol is situated on the corner of Lynn Road and Market Street in the centre of Ely. The earliest reference to a building on the site occurs in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1416-22 when ownership of the site was disputed between the bishop and the prior: this private building appears to have been incorporated into the Bishop’s Gaol which is known to have occupied the site from circa 1679 -1836 (before this the gaol was in the vicinity of Barton Square and known as the “Ely Barton”).
The gaol served the Liberty of Ely which included parts of Norfolk and Suffolk as well as the Isle of Ely.
By 1764 the gaol had a reputation for excessive use of restraining irons, due in part to the poor condition of the building. Conditions gradually improved: salaried gaolers were employed and repairs undertaken, but in 1836 an act was passed abolishing the Liberty of Ely, with authority passing to the secular powers.
Prisoners were then committed to the Cambridgeshire County Gaol.
No records of prisoners are known, but a detailed report including documentary sources relating to gaolers and building works by Kate Fearn of the Historic Buildings Survey Group (1994), on which these notes are based, can be seen at Cambridgeshire Archives.
Wisbech Gaol
Wisbech Castle was used as a prison from at least the late thirteenth century, to 1619 for both county and municipal criminals. The Burgesses built a combined gaol and bridewell in 1616.
In 1757 the town relinquished its rights to the county. In 1807 a third or New Gaol combined with House of Correction was built next to the new Sessions House on South Brink, and was used for French prisoners of war.
This gaol closed in 1846 and was replaced by a fourth gaol, of only 43 cells, in Victoria Road (sometimes called “Gaol Lane”), modelled on Pentonville. In 1878 this prison too was closed under the Prison Act, and was soon demolished; the prisoners were sent to the County Gaol in Cambridge.