Descriptions

'[p.90, January 1763] Upon the report of William Franklyn, chief constable for Dacorum, that there is no proper bridewell in that hundred, Thomas Herbert Noyes...is instructed to find a suitable place for building one and to obtain estimates for its erection. [p.96, July 1763] Report by Thomas Herbert Noyes, esquire, "that he hath lately taken a view of three freehold tenements...and the said Tenements, being altered and repaired, will make a very proper House of Correction for the said Hundred of Dacorum...The court orders that the property should be bought forthwith... [p.103, April 1764] George Hoar of Berkhamsted St Peter, appointed keeper of the new Bridewell for Dacorum at a salary of £20 per annum. [p.164 Easter 1769] Sarah Hoare, widow of the late George Hoare, appointed keeper of the bridewell...in place of her husband, at a salary of £20 per annum. [p.213, Easter 1773] Thomas Wyer appointed bridewell keeper...in place of Sarah Hoare, who has resigned. [pp.283-284, Michaelmas 1779] Mr Hellyer ordered to survey Great Berkhamsted bridewell, which the grand jury presented as being out of repair...John Bunn of Great Berkhamsted, carpenter, contracted to repair the bridewell there for £52. 14s. 0d. [p.322, January 1784 To] John Burn, £2. 9s. 6d., for repairing Great Berkhamsted bridewell. [p.325, Easter 1784] Henry Russell appointed keeper of Great Berkhamsted bridewell...Order that Great Berkhamsted bridewell shall be repaired. [p.329, Michaelmas 1784] The keeper of Great Berkhamsted Bridewell to be paid £7. 2s. 0d. "towards his Expences in retaking Thomas Wilday, a Prisoner who escaped from the said Bridewell thro' the weak state thereof". [p.367, Midsummer 1787] Lucas Kingston appointed as keeper of the bridewell at Great Berkhamsted in place of Henry Russell, deceased. [p.385, Easter 1789] William Rogers appointed as the keeper of the bridewell. [p.387, Midsummer 1789] Robert Loader of Great Berkhamsted, carpenter, to be paid £33. 4s. 6d. for repairs to the bridewell there. [p.406, Epiphany 1791] Order for the repair of ...Berkhamsted bridewell for temporary use. [p.416, January 1792] To the executrix of Jonathan Hawes £12. 7s. 7d. for repairs to Berkhamsted bridewell. [p.473, July 1797] Richard Burlingham and John Griffin, carpenters, £1. 1s. 6d. and £3. 14s. 7d. for work on Great Berkhamsted bridewell. '

Hertfordshire County Records. Calendar to the Sessions Books...1752-1799. Vol.VIII. William Le Hardy ed. Hertford: Elton Longmore, 1935.

'[p.7, Michaelmas 1799. To] William Rogers, bridewell-keeper at Great Berkhamsted, 19s. 7d for repairs done. [p.26, Easter 1801] Order, upon the report of certain justices, for the repair of the bridewell at Great Berkhamsted, and for the keeper, William Rogers, to be given £8 a year in addition to his salary, as an extra allowance for bread for the prisoners. [p.36, Easter 1802] Order that...£48. 18s. should be spent on repairs at Great Berkhamsted bridewell. [p.177, Epiphany 1816] John Rogers was appointed keeper in place of his late father, William Rogers. [pp.317-318, Michaelmas 1825] The magistrates for the Berkhamsted division were instructed in future to send prisoners "for trifling offences" to the local bridewell, instead of to Hertford, in order to save the expense. [p.334, Easter 1826] After consideration of the inadequacy of the Buildings in their present state for the purposes for which they were intended and the impracticability of making them available, ordered that the Bridewell at Great Berkhamsted be advertised for Sale...and that Messrs Creed and Griffin of Hemel Hempstead be employed as Auctioneers. [p.340, July 1826] Mr Pemberton, the surveyor, was instructed to make such alterations to the bridewell at Great Berkhamsted as would "render it secure as a place of confinement". [p.457, Epiphany 1831] the magistrates nominated John Haddocks as the keeper of the bridewell...and he was sworn in as a special constable. They also recommended that John Rogers "aged 70, the late Keeper, who is become incapable from infirmity for the Duties of the Office which he has served personally 16 years and with his late Father from 1788," should be granted a pension of £10 a year out of County funds.'

Hertfordshire County Records. Calendar to the Sessions Books...1799-1833. Vol.IX. William Le Hardy and Geoffrey LL. Reckitt ed. Hertford: Elton Longmore, 1939.

'[pp.58-59, Midsummer 1835] The visiting magistrates at Great Berkhamsted reported that they had divided one large cell into four and had made other improvements, thus "enabling the Magistrates to increase the severity of punishment under convictions by solitary confinement"; The cost had been £47. 18s., and they were "satisfied that in one year this additional expense will be more than saved to the County by the greatly diminished charge for conveyance of prisoners". [p.66, Michaelmas 1835] The visiting magistrates for Great Berkhamsted bridewell reported that "they feel daily more convinced of its utility...and that a great saving to the County is thereby effected". [p.367, Easter 1842] "In consequence of the great increase in the Buildings at the County Gaol at Hertford, the bridewells at Hitchin, Buntingford and Great Berkhamsted"...the clerk of the peace was ordered "to give the notices required by Act of Parliament...to enable the Magistrates to make sale of them and to inquire...in whom the Buildings are vested". [p.377, Midsummer 1842] it was resolved that (the bridewells) should all be sold; they were to be used as "station houses" for the County police until they were disposed of, and the surveyor was ordered to estimate the cost of their conversion for this purpose. [p.401, Epiphany 1843] The bridewell at...Berkhamsted £54 (for repairs and) they would be "fit for Police Stations...to which Prisoners might be remanded before commitment, but they are not fit for Prisoners under any Sentence however short. '

Hertfordshire County Records. Calendar to the Sessions Books...1833-1843. Vol.X. William Le Hardy ed. Hertford: Neville Moon, 1957.

'A work-room for men, and another for women. A dungeon down 9 steps, 13 feet by 9 1/2: earth floor, very damp, no window. No straw; no court: no water. Keeper's salary, £20: no fees: he has the profit of the prisoners work. They are sometimes employed in chopping rags. Allowance, a pound of bread a day. 1776, Nov. 2, No prisoners. 1779, April 23, 1 Prisoner.'

Howard, John, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary Observations, and an Account of Some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals. Warrington: Second edition, 1780, p.218.

'[Midsummer 1789]. This Prison is in the Town of Great Berkhamsted and is very insecure as a Goal [sic]. The Rooms for the Men and Women want Air. The whole extent of the Ground, including a small Garden, is 44 feet by 31 feet 6 inches. The Men's prison is 16 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 6 inches; the Women's is 17 feet by 11 feet. The Yard is 25 feet by 14 feet, running Bevel. If this Goal is continued it must have a thorough Repair, and even then cannot be made secure without purchasing more Ground and premises. It is but very indifferently watered; no Employment, no Furniture. Keeper's Salary £20 a year; Prisoners the same allowance as other Bridewells and let out once a Day. One side of this prison is against a Cooper's Shop and that Partition is a Mudd Wall, raddeled , and the Inside of the Prison lined with an inch board. They can converse. There is a Dungeon, a most dreadful Hole without Air, without any Light, 9 Steps down, and in several places the Brick Bottom perished and so damp that a Stick may be ran down a Foot deep in Damp Earth. Strict orders were given by the Committee that in Future no prisoner should be put into this place. The Average Number committed here in a year is about 14. Remarks - It seems necessary that some place of confinement should be established about this part of the county for Prisoners to be confined for a short Time, either for trifling Offences or for Re-examination, or where their stay is to be but for a Short Time, and this prison and Buntingford should be upon a small Scale and economical a plan as possible....The Buntingford, Hitchin and Great Berkhamsted bridewells should "in future be considered only as places of Detention for further Examination or as places of Confinement for small Offences", and offenders who are to be committed for longer than 14 days should be sent to Hertford Bridewell...That Great Berkhamsted bridewell should be continued but that it should be made secure and its dungeon not used for prisoners'

Hertfordshire County Records. Calendar to the Sessions Books...1752-1799. Vol.VIII. William Le Hardy ed. Hertford: Elton Longmore, 1935, pp.390-391

'[Easter 1824] Great Berkhamsted bridewell is used chiefly as a place of confinement for Prisoners under Examination, or until they can be conveyed to Hertford either for Trial or Punishment. It is situate in the middle of the Town of Berkhamsted, and consists of a dwelling room for the Keeper (William Rogers) and four Bedrooms up Stairs. There are two Wards connected by a Passage, one used generally for Male and the other for Female Prisoners. The Male Ward is a room with boarded floor 17 feet by 11, the sides and tops plaistered and white washed. There is one Window, not glazed, and no fire place. The females ward is a room 18 feet by 12, corresponding with the other. Both look into a small Yard 24 feet by 12, surrounded by high walls. In the Yard is a Privy. The Wards and the dwelling House are much in want of repair. There is a Wooden Bedstead to each Ward, provided with Straw and two blankets. There are no means of keeping Prisoners separate so as to prevent communication by talking. The Keeper considers the Yard so insecure that Prisoners are not allowed the Use of it unless in the presence of the Keeper. There are no means of Labor for the Prisoners.'

Hertfordshire County Records. Calendar to the Sessions Books...1799-1833. Vol.IX. William Le Hardy and Geoffrey LL. Reckitt ed. Hertford: Elton Longmore, 1939, pp.286-287.

'[Epiphany 1826. Report by visiting magistrates] The House is in the Middle of the Town of Great Berkhamsted and consists of a Dwelling Room for the Keeper and four Bed Rooms up stairs, one Ward for the men, one for the Women and a Yard walled about fourteen feet high - there is a Dungeon or small Cellar, but never used. The Dimensions of these are stated below - [Men's Ward 17ft x 11ft x 14ft high with sloping roof. Women's Yard [sic] 18ft x 12ft x 71/2ft high with sloping roof. Yard 23ft x 13ft surrounded by 14ft wall. Dungeon about 9ft, irregular shape, underground]. The Keeper considers the yard so insecure that Prisoners are not allowed the use of it unless in his presence. The air of this place is very offensive on going into it, there is but one privy for both Male and Female Prisoners and the Keeper's Family which is in the Yard, and the Keeper or his wife is obliged to attend when any Prisoner has occasion to go into the Yard. There is no outer Window or opening in any part of the Walls of the Apartments or yard by which it can be ventilated; on the south and south west sides it is inclosed by Buildings as high as the House itself; on the side nearly west the Wall of the House is next to a Lane, but without any opening that communicates with the Wards or Yard for confinement. The front which is north east has no ventilation but casually when the Door is open with the passage. And by the report of the Medical attendant sometime since made to us, he considers this renders to air so impure that if Prisoners were kept here any length of time it would produce disease. The House is used chiefly as a place of Confinement for Persons under examination or until they can be conveyed to Herford for Trial or Punishment, and there are no means of employing or of keeping the prisoners separarate so as to prevent communication by talking. The premises are not in a state of repair fit for a house of Correction...and the visiting magistrates...consider it quite unfit to be used as a House of Correction. The Court ordered Mr Pemberton, the surveyor, to view the bridewell and to make an estimate of the expence necessary to place the said House of Correction in such Condition as shall render it secure and fitting for the detention or commitment of persons guilty of minor offences.'

Hertfordshire County Records. Calendar to the Sessions Books...1799-1833. Vol.IX. William Le Hardy and Geoffrey LL. Reckitt ed. Hertford: Elton Longmore, 1939, pp.326-327]

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