Location | St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, London, England |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51°31′28″N0°6′26″W / 51.52444°N 0.10722°W |
Status | Closed |
Capacity | 240 [1] |
Population | 109 [1] (as of 1849 [1] ) |
Opened | c. 1820 [1] |
Notable prisoners | |
Ricard O'Sullivan Burke [2] |
Clerkenwell (old) Prison, also known as the Clerkenwell House of Detention or Middlesex House of Detention [3] was a prison in Clerkenwell, London, opened in 1847 and demolished in 1890. [4] It held prisoners awaiting trial. [5]
It stood on Bowling Green Lane conveniently close to the Middlesex Sessions House, where prisoners would be tried, on Clerkenwell Green to the south.
The House of Detention was built on the site of two earlier prisons, the Clerkenwell Bridewell for convicted prisoners and the New Prison for those awaiting trial. The Bridewell closed in 1794 and its functions were taken over by the Coldbath Fields Prison at Mount Pleasant. The New Prison was rebuilt in 1818 and in 1847, at which time its name changed to the House of Detention.
On 13 December 1867 its exercise yard was the target of a gunpowder explosion instigated by members of the Fenian Society in an attempt to aid the escape of Ricard O'Sullivan Burke, an arms supplier to the Fenians. [6] The blast killed twelve bystanders and wounded 120 in Corporation Row; and the event became known as the "Clerkenwell Outrage". Some of those responsible were executed, with ringleader Michael Barrett becoming the last person to be publicly executed outside Newgate Prison. [7]
The prison was demolished in 1890. The site was then used for the Hugh Myddleton School, built in 1893 and closed in 1971. The school building has now been converted into flats. The 9,000 sq ft [8] vaults beneath, dating from the prison era, and now known as the "Clerkenwell Catacombs", remained. They were reopened as air-raid shelters during the Blitz, and are occasionally opened, for instance during Clerkenwell Design Week. For a few years the vaults were open as a tourist attraction. Various movies have been filmed in the catacombs. [9]
Clerkenwell is an area of central London, England.
Abu Ghraib prison was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located 32 kilometers (20 mi) west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1950s and served as a maximum-security prison. From the 1970s, the prison was used by Saddam Hussein to hold political prisoners and later the United States to hold Iraqi prisoners. It developed a reputation for torture and extrajudicial killing, and was closed in 2014.
Michael Barrett was an Irish activist. He was a member of the Fenians.
Coldbath Fields Prison, also formerly known as the Middlesex House of Correction and Clerkenwell Gaol and informally known as the Steel, was a prison in the Mount Pleasant area of Clerkenwell, London. Founded in the reign of James I (1603–1625) it was completely rebuilt in 1794 and extended in 1850. It housed prisoners on short sentences of up to two years. Blocks emerged to segregate felons, misdemeanants and vagrants.
The house of correction was a type of establishment built after the passing of the Elizabethan Poor Law (1601), places where those who were "unwilling to work", including vagrants and beggars, were set to work. The building of houses of correction came after the passing of an amendment to the Elizabethan Poor Law. However the houses of correction were not considered a part of the Elizabethan Poor Law system because the Act distinguished between settled poor and wandering poor.
The New Prison was a prison located in the Clerkenwell area of central London between c.1617 and 1877. The New Prison was used to house prisoners committed for examination before the police magistrates, for trial at the sessions, for want of bail, and occasionally on summary conviction.
Clerkenwell Bridewell was a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants located in the Clerkenwell area, immediately north of the City of London, between c. 1615 and 1794. It was named 'Bridewell' after the Bridewell Palace, which during the 16th century had become one of the City of London's most important prisons.
Tothill Fields Bridewell was a prison located in the Westminster area of central London between 1618 and 1884. It was named "Bridewell" after the Bridewell Palace, which during the 16th century had become one of the City of London's most important prisons. Tothill Fields later became the Westminster House of Correction.
Events from the year 1867 in Ireland.
Middlesex House of Correction may refer to one of several institutions:
The city of London, England, has several catacomb spaces, although the high water table limits subterranean construction. There has been a long tradition of burial under the floors of churches, and during the period of new church construction in the Victorian era many were provided with vaults or crypts under the main structure.
The District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) is a correctional agency responsible for the adult jails and other adult correctional institutions for the District of Columbia, in the United States. DCDC runs the D.C. Jail.
The Devizes County House of Corrections or Devizes Prison was a correctional facility in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. It opened in 1817, replacing the Old Bridewell prison, and fell out of use after around a hundred years. For a time it was the only prison in Wiltshire.
The Fenian Rising of 1867 was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
The Clerkenwell explosion, also known as the Clerkenwell Outrage, was a bombing in London on 13 December 1867. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, nicknamed the "Fenians", exploded a bomb to try to free one of their members being held on remand at Clerkenwell Prison. The explosion damaged nearby houses, killed 12 people and left 120 injured. None of the prisoners escaped. The event was described by The Times the following day as "a crime of unexampled atrocity", and compared to the "infernal machines" used in Paris in 1800 and 1835 and the Gunpowder Treason of 1605. The bombing was later described as the most infamous action carried out by the Fenians in Britain in the 19th century. It enraged the public, causing a backlash of hostility in Britain which undermined efforts to establish home rule or independence for Ireland.
Frederick Hyde Pownall was a British architect. He was County Surveyor for Middlesex for about 45 years, and designed both Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.
The London Smallpox Hospital, sometimes known as the Middlesex County Hospital for Smallpox and Inoculation, was established in 1745–6 and was said to be the first establishment of its type in Europe. The earliest buildings were in the West End of London, Finsbury and Bethnal Green, but in 1752 it moved to the house formerly occupied by Sir John Oldcastle in Coldbath Fields, admitting patients from 1753.
The Kerala Prisons and Correctional Services is a state agency of Kerala that operates prisons and borstal schools. It has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala Prisons and Correctional Services is headed by the Director General of Prisons.