Bury St Edmund’s Borough Gaol and House of Correction

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Bury St Edmunds Town Bridewell, Bury St Edmunds Borough House of Correction

Prison Type   Local Prison -  Common Gaol & House of Correction/Bridewell, Lock Up

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   unknown

Date closed   1805 [1892]

Location   Moyses Hall   Bury St Edmunds

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Suffolk

Critical Remarks

The prison's function as a borough gaol seems to have ceased in about 1805, though Neild claimed petty offenders were still sentenced to periods of confinement in the bridewell in 1812. Continued to be used as a lock up, and from 1836 until 1892, as a police station.

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Bury St Edmunds Town Bridewell, Bury St Edmunds Borough House of Correction

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   unknown

Date closed   1805 [1892]

Location   Moyses Hall   Bury St Edmunds

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   52.2464261  Long.   0.7118141

County   Suffolk

Critical Remarks

The prison's function as a borough gaol seems to have ceased in about 1805, though Neild claimed petty offenders were still sentenced to periods of confinement in the bridewell in 1812. Continued to be used as a lock up, and from 1836 until 1892, as a police station.

Principal Primary Sources

  • James Neild, The State of the Prisons of England, Scotland and Wales (London, 1812), p.89
  • Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 4 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXV.1), p.2177
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District. First Report (Parl. Papers, 1836, XXXV.161), p.107; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXII.1), p.168; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Fifth Report (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXV.565), p.149; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Seventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1842, XXI.1), p.166; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Ninth Report (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXIX.227), p.58; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Fifteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1850, XXVIII.291), p.89; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Sixteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1851, XXVII.461), p.54

Additional Primary Sources

  • William White, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk (2nd edn, Sheffield, 1855), p. 195

Secondary Sources

  • http://www.stedmundsburychronicle.co.uk/msebuild.htm

Management

Archive name: Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds Branch

Catalogue ref: EE 500/D16/2/1-2

Collection: Bury St Edmunds Borough

Description: Returns of prisoners and police expenses

Dates: 1882-1911


Land & Buildings

Archive name: Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds Branch

Catalogue ref: EE 500/D7/5/1-3

Collection: Bury St Edmunds Borough

Description: Gaol, deeds

Dates: 1681-1807


Archive name: Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds Branch

Catalogue ref: FL541/1/2

Collection: None

Description: Vestry book. Includes proposed erections of new clock on Bridewell  in the Market Place.

Dates: 1787-1819


Images

Archive name: Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds Branch

Catalogue ref: 1783/68/(d)

Collection: None

Description: Print 'The Borough Gaol, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.' Moyses Hall. Engraved by E. Roberts from a sketch by T. Higham. Published by Longman & Co, Paternoster Row.

Dates: 1818


Other

Archive name: Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds Branch

Catalogue ref: 449/5/33

Collection: Hengrave family papers

Description: Transcripts of medieval manuscript of St Edmund's Abbey, made for John Gage. 'Collectanea Buriensia' by Jermyn and Davy. Including description of the Gaol and Borough Bridewell.

Dates: 1801-1804