Coventry City Gaol and House of Correction

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

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

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1831

Date closed   1860

Location   Pepper Lane (formerly Gaol Lane) & Bayley Lane   Coventry

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Warwickshire

Prison Info

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1831

Date closed   1860

Location   Pepper Lane (formerly Gaol Lane) & Bayley Lane   Coventry

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   52.4077489  Long.   -1.5085031

County   Warwickshire

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1833

Annual Committed   -   246

Daily Census   -   36

 

Year 1838

Annual Confined   -   261

Daily Census   -   46

 

Year 1843

Annual Confined   -   573

Daily Census   -   61

 

Year 1848

Annual Confined   -   547

Daily Daily average   -  

 

Year 1853

Annual Confined   -   564

Daily Daily average   -   63

 

Year 1858

Annual Committed   -   497

Daily Daily average   -   53

Principal Primary Sources

  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1831-32. XXXIII.197), p.285; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1833, XXVIII.1), p.310; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1834, XLVI.1), p.296; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1835, XLIV.225), p.282; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1836, XLII.1), p.190; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1837, XLV.1), p.191; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1837-8, XLIII.227), p.192; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXXVIII.17), p.192; Reports Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.1), p.208; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1841, XVIII.1), p.221; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1842, XXXII.1), p.224; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1843, XLIII.1), p.224; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXXIX.403), p.194; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1845, XXXVII.417), p.229; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1846, XXXIV.187), p.232; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1847, XLVII.297), p.238; Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (Parl. Papers, 1847-48, LII.465), p.244
  • Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 3 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIV.1), p.1804
  • Abstract Return of Establishment and Expenditure of Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.241), p.64
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837, XXXII.659), p.48; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXII.217), p.144; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1841 Session 2, V.177), p.33; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Ninth Report (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXIX.391), p.443; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Eleventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1846, XXI.565), p.418; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Twelfth Report (Parl. Papers, 1847-8, XXXV.1), p.415; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Midland and Eastern District, Fourteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1849, XXVI.1), p.70; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Seventeenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1852, XXIV.1), p.29; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Nineteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1854, XXXIV.1), p.117; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Twenty-first Report (Parl. Papers, 1856, XXXIII.485), p.86; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Midland District, Twenty-third Report (Parl. Papers, 1859, Session 1, XI.1), p.137; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Midland District, Twenty-fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1860, XXXV.1), p.119; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Midland District, Twenty-sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1861, XXIX.45), p.127

Secondary Sources

  • http://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/topics/social-history/coventry-gaol-governors-house

Management

Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/599

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Gaolkeepers' certificates and annual returns

Dates: 1836-1837


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 64/1/12

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Order books, orders and Gaolers reports

Dates: 1838-1841


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 63/61

Collection: Coventry Quarter Sessions

Description: Bundle of papers, including an inventory and valuation of contents of the Gaol and House of Correction (1843). Also, election of the Governor and Matron the House of Correction (1848).

Dates: 1843, 1848


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/114/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Yearly returns

Dates: 1824-1835


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/115/1-3

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Annual returns

Dates: 1836-1842


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/117/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Copy of resolution enabling the admission of up to forty Warwickshire prisoners

Dates: 1836


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/118/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Inspecting Committee's report

Dates: 1836


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/119/1-9

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Letters about the Gaol's state

Dates: 1836-1837


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/120/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Temporary restrictions

Dates: 1837


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/92/2

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Memoranda to order book, initially undated

Dates: 1859


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: PA14/6/142

Collection: Papers and deeds of John Carter, Town Clerk and Clerk of the Peace for the City and County of the City of Coventry, and Edward Greenfield Doggett

Description: Draft petition, by magistrates to Home Secretary, justifying the cost of rebuilding the Gaol and merger with House of Correction. Also, statistics of prisoners held etc.

Dates: c.1824


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: PA14/8/52

Collection: Papers and deeds of John Carter, Town Clerk and Clerk of the Peace for the City and County of the City of Coventry, and Edward Greenfield Doggett

Description: Signed draft of Magistrates' resolution about adjournment of a meeting to consider work upon the new Gaol

Dates: 1828


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/600

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Presentments to the Quarter Sessions upon the insufficiency of the County Gaol

Dates: 1848, 1853


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/601

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Annual returns, giving numbers of prisoners, their employment, average weekly cost of maintenance etc

Dates: 1843-1859


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 64/5/11

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Special contract and other papers relating to the New Gaol and House of Correction

Dates: 1823-1831


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 91/4

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Copy petition of Chairman of Warwickshire Quarter Sessions on behalf of the Warwickshire Magistracy against the clause in the Coventry Improvement and Cemetery Bill relating to the Gaol and House of Correction at Coventry

Dates: c.1844


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 63/70

Collection: Coventry Quarter Sessions

Description: Coventry Gaol, Visiting magistrates' book of orders, memoranda etc

Dates: 1842-1853


Finance

Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/597

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Abstracts of accounts of the charges of the several tradesmen employed upon the Coventry new Gaol

Dates: c.1831


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/602

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Treasurer's annual statements of the disbursements at the Coventry Gaol

Dates: 1850-1860


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 63/58-59

Collection: Coventry Quarter Sessions

Description: Bundles of Treasurers Vouchers, new Gaol

Dates: 1828-1832


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 63/60

Collection: Coventry Quarter Sessions

Description: Case relating to payment of money advanced for erecting the New Gaol and House of Correction

Dates: 1832


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 64/5/6

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: New Gaol account

Dates: 1825-1845


Daily Business

Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 63/71-72

Collection: Coventry Quarter Sessions

Description: Coventry Gaol, Governors' journal

Dates: 1849-1853, 1856-1860


Staff

Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 3/c/iv/17-19

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Resignations and appointments of Chaplains of Coventry Gaol

Dates: 1849, 1850, 1858


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 3/c/i/10

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Applications and advertisements for governorship of County Gaol, Warwick, House of Correction, Warwick and Coventry Gaol and House of Correction

Dates: 1826-1854


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/122/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Extracts from report by Rate Committee to Coventry Corporation, suggesting that the City pay the Gaol staff less

Dates: 1837


Land & Buildings

Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/103/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Sheriffs' warrant for summons of jury to evaluate Cuckoo Lane property for Gaol's expansion

Dates: 1824


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/105/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Case respecting Cuckoo Lane water works

Dates: 1827


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/106/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Copy of counterpart lease for Swanswell Pool and Cuckoo Lane water works (1653)

Dates: c.1828


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/107/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Notice about purchase of Cuckoo Lane water works from Coventry Corporation

Dates: 1828


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/108/1-3

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Memoranda about Cuckoo Lane property

Dates: 1829


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/109/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: Justices' resolution about Gaol's boundary wall

Dates: 1829


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: PA14/6/205

Collection: Papers and deeds of John Carter, Town Clerk and Clerk of the Peace for the City and County of the City of Coventry, and Edward Greenfield Doggett

Description: Letter from Carter to Steadman Whitwell wanting his plan for the new Gaol and House of Correction

Dates: 1822


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: CR2181/10

Collection: Architects Department, Warwickshire County Council

Description: Plans of remaining cell block of old Gaol, with alterations to convert it into a new Court

Dates: c.1900


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/598

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Contract with specification for carrying out alterations to the Court House and other buildings attached to the Coventry Gaol

Dates: 1843


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/603

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Plan of Coventry Gaol by William Kendall, County Surveyor

Dates: 1859


Archive name: Warwickshire County Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS 24/h/iii/604

Collection: Warwickshire Quarter Sessions

Description: Documents concerning sale of part of premises

Dates: 1865


Archive name: Coventry Archives and Research Centre

Catalogue ref: BA/E/2/104/1

Collection: Coventry Borough Archives

Description: List of Jurors who might value Cuckoo Lane property

Dates: 1824