Bridgwater Town Gaol

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Bridgwater Gaol, Bridgwater Borough Gaol and Lock Up House

Prison Type   Local Prison -  Common Gaol

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   [1834]

Date closed   [1875]

Location   within Cross Keys public house, Fore Street   Bridgwater

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Somersetshire

Critical Remarks

The town gaol located in the Cross Keys public house may have been replaced by a new gaol connected to the new police office in Fore Street in 1834. It is not clear from the sources whether the old town gaol was located on the same site or whether it was closed with the opening of the police station. The Fore Street gaol was closed and demolished in 1875.

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Bridgwater Gaol, Bridgwater Borough Gaol and Lock Up House

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   [1834]

Date closed   [1875]

Location   within Cross Keys public house, Fore Street   Bridgwater

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   51.1283563  Long.   -3.0023889

County   Somersetshire

Critical Remarks

The town gaol located in the Cross Keys public house may have been replaced by a new gaol connected to the new police office in Fore Street in 1834. It is not clear from the sources whether the old town gaol was located on the same site or whether it was closed with the opening of the police station. The Fore Street gaol was closed and demolished in 1875.

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1818

Annual Committed   -   6

Daily Greatest number   -   2

 

Year 1828

Annual Committed   -   15

Daily Census   -   15

 

Year 1832

Annual Committed   -   11

Daily Greatest number   -   36

Principal Primary Sources

  • James Neild, The State of the Prisons of England, Scotland and Wales (London, 1812), p.50
  • Account of Gaols, Houses of Correction or Penitentiaries in the United Kingdom, 1818 (Parl. Papers, 1819, XVII.371), p.42
  • Seventh Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1827), Appendix, p.131; Eighth Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1832), Appendix, p.40
  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (1829, XIX.401), p.97
  • Return of Places of Confinement Outside Gaol Acts in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1833, XXVIII.425), p.25
  • Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 1 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIII.1), p.465
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837, XXXII.1), p.38; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Third Report (Parl. Papers, 1837-38, XXXI.177), p.97; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Fifteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1850, XXVIII.579), p.34; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Seventeenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1852, XXIV.1), p.92

Secondary Sources

  • http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol6/pp192-206; http://www.bridgwatertowncouncil.gov.uk/history/19th-century/the-borough-constabulary-1834-1940

Management

Archive name: Somerset Archives and Local Studies

Catalogue ref: D/B/bw/2389

Collection: Bridgwater Borough

Description: Bundle of papers including case concerning keeping of Bridgwater Sessions' prisoners in County  Gaol, and draft contract for maintenance of prisoners in Gaol (1856, 1872)

Dates: 1852-1899


Land & Buildings

Archive name: Somerset Archives and Local Studies

Catalogue ref: D/B/bw/2395-8, 2431, and 2433-6

Collection: Bridgwater Borough

Description: Documents relating to the bridge, Gaol and the market house, with other public buildings

Dates: 1859-1899


Archive name: Somerset Archives and Local Studies

Catalogue ref: DD/DN/4/4/63

Collection: Dickinson Family

Description: Correspondence. Includes James Gane at Taunton Gaol concerning improvements to Bridgwater Prison.

Dates: 1848-1850


Archive name: Somerset Archives and Local Studies

Catalogue ref: Q/RUp/240a

Collection: Somerset Quarter Sessions

Description: Plans. New Borough Prison at Bridgwater and improving and extending Assize Courts. Architect - Richard Carver.

Dates: 1854