Ely Old Gaol

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Ely City Gaol, Ely Gaol, Ely Common Gaol

Prison Type   Local Prison -  Common Gaol

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1768

Date closed   c1845

Location   Gaol Street   Ely

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Cambridgeshire

Critical Remarks

From 1838, used to confine debtors only (though criminal prisoners were again confined here in 1843 while alterations were made to Ely Gaol and House of Correction (ID 137)).

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Ely City Gaol, Ely Gaol, Ely Common Gaol

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1768

Date closed   c1845

Location   Gaol Street   Ely

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   52.4002189  Long.   0.2639233

County   Cambridgeshire

Critical Remarks

From 1838, used to confine debtors only (though criminal prisoners were again confined here in 1843 while alterations were made to Ely Gaol and House of Correction (ID 137)).

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1818

Annual Committed   -   30

Daily Greatest number   -   15

 

Year 1828

Annual Committed   -   32

Daily Census   -   32

 

Year 1832

Annual Committed   -   29

Daily Greatest number   -   17

Principal Primary Sources

  • James Neild, The State of the Prisons of England, Scotland and Wales (London, 1812), p.203
  • Account of Gaols, Houses of Correction or Penitentiaries in the United Kingdom, 1818 (Parl. Papers, 1819, XVII.371), p.4
  • 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.4
  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (1829, XIX.401), p.12
  • Return of Places of Confinement Outside Gaol Acts in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1833, XXVIII.425), p.40
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District. First Report (Parl. Papers, 1836, XXXV.161), p.19; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXII.1), p.177; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Seventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1842, XXI.1), p.176; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain II. Northern and Eastern District, Ninth Report (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXIX.227), p.29

Secondary Sources

  • http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol4/pp28-33; http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/directory_record/4182/prisons

Management

Archive name: Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service

Catalogue ref: R4/4189

Collection: The Russell collection

Description: Includes correspondence regarding Ely Gaol

Dates: 1843


Archive name: Cambridgeshire Archives

Catalogue ref: E/QSO/1-56

Collection: Isle of Ely Quarter Sessions

Description: Minute books for the Isle of Ely Quarter Sessions (likely to contain material on the administration of Ely prisons)

Dates: 1801-1882