Inlcudes report : "The Report of Robert Thorp, Clerk of the Peace for the County of Northumberland, to His Mºjº Justices of the Peace for the said
County, assembled at the Michaelmas General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, holden at Alnwick in and for the said County, on Thursday the 16th day of October 1823.
"With regard to the House of Correction at Alnwick, it appears,
from the certificate of the Keeper thereof, that the building now and for many
years past used as a House of Correction in that town, is of such a construction
as to render the several classifications and other rules and regulations required by
the said Act impracticable, and that the same is only capable of being divided
into two distinct classes, one for males and the other for females, and such
classification consists as follows, viz. two day rooms and six sleeping cells. And
it further appears, from the said last-mentioned certificate, that there are only two
rooms appropriated to the use of the Keeper and family, viz. a kitchen and
a very small room or office. There is a large room up stairs, which is solely used
for the Justice meetings of that district. There is attached to this Prison two
airing yards, but the walls being so low, the Keeper is afraid of allowing the
prisoners to exercise there for fear of an escape. There are, at present, con
fined within the walls of this Prison, eight males and one female, charged with
misdemeanor, and one female charged with larceny".
ring the last year as not to render necessary any case of punishment.
And lastly, with respect to the house of correction at Alnwick, it appears by the certi
ficate of the keeper of that prison, that the said house of correction is of such a construction
as to render the whole of the classification, and other rules and regulations required by
the Acts of Parliament passed in the fourth year of the reign of His present Majesty,
impracticable; but that the same is capable of being divided into two classes, one for
males and the other for females, with one day room and one airing yard attached to each
class: that the said prison contains eight sleeping cells, and a parlour, kitchen, pantry,
and a closet with a bed in it, on the ground floor, and two bed rooms up stairs, for the
keeper and his family: that there is a room within this prison which is solely used for
the Justices of the district to hold their petty sessions in: that the untried prisoners
within this prison are not kept to labour, unless it be at their own desire; but the tried
prisoners are employed in teazing oakum and horse-hair, making mats and mattrasses,
sewing pokes, and breaking sand: that if any of the tried prisoners are brought up to
any trade, they are allowed to work at such trade, provided the tools they respectively
use are not such as will facilitate their escape from prison: that the rules laid down in
the said Acts for the government of prisons have been complied with as far as they can:
that there are at present confined within the said house of correction nine prisoners, all
males; one under commitment for trial on a charge of larceny, one for uttering base
money, and seven for various misdemeanors and small offences: that the prisoners in the
said prison have during the last year conducted themselves in an orderly manner, to the
satisfaction of the Visiting Justices and keeper. Given under my hand this 20th day
of October 1826.
Includes return on religious denomination of prisoners in 1869
Resource (An Account of All the Goals Houses of Correction and Penitentiaries in the UK 1819. Reference to Alnwick but no detail;.
Historic England listing: Former Correction House Yard
House of Correction by Barbara Woodhouse
Keys to the past: Former Correction House Yard
Papers relating to crime, lunatics and police.
Reports from inspector of prisons
Reports from commissioners appointed to inspect prisons 1849
Reports from inspector of prisons
Reports from inspector of prisons
Reports from the Commissioners 1843 (Prisons)
Reports from prisn ocmmissioners
Report from inspector of prisons
Report from inspector of prisons
Prison papers from 1836
This Prison, first inhabited in October, 1807, has, on the ground-floor, two of the Keeper's rooms in front. These are divided by a passage 4 feet 6 inches wide, leading to the Gaol door, and entrance into a lobby 24 feet long, and 4 feet 6 inches wide; with an iron-grated and glazed casement at the end of it, 19 inches by 16; and into this lobby five sleeping-cells open.
The smallest cell is 9 feet 5 by 7 feet 8, and 8 feet 4 inches high to the crown of the arch; the whole of stone, fitted up with wooden bedsteads for two persons, loose straw, two blankets, and a coverlet : a small uncovered tub for a sewer, emptied every morning; and a wooden stool to sit on. Every cell-door has an inspecting wicket 8+ inches square.
On the North side is a court-yard for Men, who are allowed to be out for one hour in the day, accompanied by the Keeper: It is 42 feet square, and, in the centre, has a sewer, and a pig-stye ; and part of it is planted with cabbages.
The Women's court is on the South-side, 63 feet by 36, with a detached sewer in it. The area forms the Keeper's garden, and is planted with vegetables. Females have the use of this garden one hour in the day.
Above stairs are three sleeping-cells for Women, of the same size with those below, and opening into a lobby of like dimensions. Their cells contain two wooden bedsteads for two persons each, and are fitted up like those assigned for
the men.
There is also a large work-room on this floor, of 22 feet by 12, with two large grated and glazed lift-up sash windows, and a large fire-place; for which coals are allowed during the six winter months. For the rest of the year the prisoners work in their sleeping-cells, which, having no grate, are frequently very cold.
The Magistrates hold their Petty Sessions every fortnight in a convenient room above stairs. No rules, however, or regulations are printed and stuck up. Here are no rooms set apart for the sick: No day-room allotted: No bath or oven to purify foul or infected clothes: No water accessible: even the Keeper, for his own use, fetches it from a pump 300 yards distant! The Act for preserving the Health of Prisoners, and Clauses against Spirituous Liquors, are not hung up.
The employment of the Prisoners consists in beating hemp, picking oakum, winding cotton, cutting candle-wicks, spinning and knotting of rope. The average of earnings is 3d. per day, which the Keeper has, in aid of maintenance. The Prisoners have no share; neither do they receive any money on being discharged, to carry them home, or prevent those necessities, which may impel them to predatory acts, when happily liberated
Includes prison statistics