Newgate Prison Totally Explained

Everything about Newgate Gaol totally explained

ť For the Irish prison of the same name, see Newgate Prison, Dublin.:For the prison in East Granby, Connecticut, see Old Newgate Prison.

Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished 1767. The prison was extended and rebuilt many times, and remained in use for over 700 years, from 1188 to 1902.
   The first prison at Newgate was built in 1188 on the orders of Henry II. It was significantly enlarged in 1236, and the executors of Lord Mayor Richard Whittington were granted a license to renovate the prison in 1422. The prison was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and was rebuilt in 1672, extending into new buildings on the south side of the street.
   It was used for a number of purposes including imprisoning people awaiting execution, although it wasn't always secure: burglar Jack Sheppard escaped from the prison three times before he went to the gallows at Tyburn in 1724.
   The old prison was demolished and replaced by a new building designed by George Dance between 1770 and 1778. He also designed the adjacent court-house. The new prison was attacked by rioting mobs during the Gordon Riots in 1780: the prison was set on fire, many prisoners died during the blaze and approximately 300 escaped to temporary freedom.
   The prison was rebuilt two years later (in 1782), to an Architecture Terrible design intended to discourage law-breaking. The building was laid out around a central courtyard, and was divided into two sections: a 'Common' area for poor prisoners and a 'State area' for those able to afford more comfortable accommodation. Each section was further sub-divided to accommodate felons and debtors.
   In 1783, the site of London's gallows was moved from Tyburn to Newgate. Public executions outside the prison - by this time, London's main prison - continued to draw large crowds. It was also possible to visit the prison by obtaining a permit from the Lord Mayor of the City of London or a sheriff. The condemned were kept in narrow sombre cells separated from Newgate Street by a thick wall and receiving only a dim light from the inner courtyard. The gallows were constructed outside a window in Newgate Street.
   During the early 19th century, the prison also attracted the attention of the social reformer Elizabeth Fry. She was particularly concerned at the conditions in which women prisoners (and their children) were held. After she presented evidence to the House of Commons, improvements were made. In 1858, the interior was rebuilt with individual cells.
   From 1868, public executions were discontinued and executions were carried out on a gallows inside Newgate. Michael Barrett was the last man to be hanged in public outside Newgate Prison (and the last person to be executed in public in Great Britain) on 26 May 1868.
   The prison closed in 1902 and was demolished in 1904. The Central Criminal Court (also known as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands) now stands upon its site.
   The original door from a prison cell used to house St. Oliver Plunkett in 1681 survives today and is on display at St. Peter's Church in Drogheda, Ireland. The original iron gate leading to the gallows was used for decades in an alleyway in Buffalo, New York and is currently housed in that city at Canisius College.

Famous prisoners

Other famous prisoners at Newgate include:

William Cobbett - Parliamentary reformer and agrarian
Daniel Defoe - author of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders (whose protagonist is born and imprisoned in Newgate Prison)
Lord George Gordon - a madcap who, amongst other antics, tried to burn down Newgate
Ben Jonson - playwright and poet, imprisoned for the 22 September 1598 killing of his fellow actor Gabriel Spenser in a duel. Freed by pleading benefit of clergy.
William Kidd - aka Captain Kidd, the infamous pirate hunter
John Law - economist
James MacLaine - aka "the Gentleman Highwayman" - notorious robber
Sir Thomas Malory - author of Le Morte d'Arthur, a saga about King Arthur
Titus Oates - anti-Catholic conspirator
William Penn - the Quaker who founded the state of Pennsylvania
Jack Sheppard
Saint Robert Southwell - Jesuit priest, poet and martyr
Owen Suffolk - Australian bush-ranger
Mary Wade - Youngest female convict transported to Australia

In literature

A record of executions conducted at the prison, together with commentary, was published as The Newgate Calendar, which inspired a genre of Victorian literature known as the Newgate novel.

The prison appears in a number of novels by Charles Dickens, including Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations, and is the subject of an entire essay in his work Sketches by Boz.

The prison is also depicted in:

Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders
William Godwin's novel Caleb Williams
Michael Crichton's novel The Great Train Robbery
Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle
Joseph O'Connor's novel Star of the Sea - where one section concerns a character's imprisonment and subsequent escape from Newgate.
Bernard Cornwell's novel Gallows Thief
David Liss's novel A Conspiracy of Paper and the sequel, A Spectacle of Corruption
John Gay's Ballad Opera The Beggar's Opera

Further Information

Get more info on 'Newgate Gaol'.

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