Falmouth Town Gaol

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Falmouth Town Prison, Falmouth Common Gaol and House of Correction, Falmouth Borough Gaol

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

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1660 [1831]

Date closed   1866

Location   Prince (or Prince's) Street (present day top of High Street where Prince Street Gardens now stand)   Falmouth

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Cornwall

Critical Remarks

Although Falmouth had a town prison from 1660, it is unclear whether the new gaol which opened in 1831 on Prince's Street was constructed on the same site as the previous gaol. Hence both gaols have been included in the same record. By c1840, the town gaol was essentially being used as a lock up only, but was only officially closed as a borough gaol in 1866.

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Falmouth Town Prison, Falmouth Common Gaol and House of Correction, Falmouth Borough Gaol

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   1660 [1831]

Date closed   1866

Location   Prince (or Prince's) Street (present day top of High Street where Prince Street Gardens now stand)   Falmouth

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   50.157913  Long.   -5.0738495

County   Cornwall

Critical Remarks

Although Falmouth had a town prison from 1660, it is unclear whether the new gaol which opened in 1831 on Prince's Street was constructed on the same site as the previous gaol. Hence both gaols have been included in the same record. By c1840, the town gaol was essentially being used as a lock up only, but was only officially closed as a borough gaol in 1866.

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1818

Annual Committed   -   8

Daily Greatest number   -   2

 

Year 1828

Annual Committed   -   13

Daily Census   -   13

 

Year 1832

Annual Committed   -   68

Daily Greatest number   -   12

 

Year 1838

Annual Confined   -   44

Daily Census   -   3

 

Year 1843

Annual Confined   -   62

Daily Census   -   0

 

Year 1848

Annual Confined   -   126

Daily Daily average   -   0

 

Year 1853

Annual Confined   -   82

Daily Daily average   -   0

 

Year 1858

Annual Committed   -   123

Daily Daily average   -   10

 

Year 1863

Annual Committed   -   90

Daily Greatest number   -   12

Principal Primary Sources

  • James Neild, The State of the Prisons of England, Scotland and Wales (London, 1812), p.217
  • Account of Gaols, Houses of Correction or Penitentiaries in the United Kingdom, 1818 (Parl. Papers, 1819, XVII.371), p.6
  • [Second] Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1820), p.37; The Third Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1821), Appendix, p.11; Sixth Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1824), Appendix, p.19; 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.18; 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.6
  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (1829, XIX.401), p.20
  • Return of Places of Confinement Outside Gaol Acts in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1833, XXVIII.425), p.44
  • Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 1 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIII.1), p.502
  • Abstract Return of Establishment and Expenditure of Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1840, XXXVIII.241), p.8
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837, XXXII.659), p.42; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXII.217), p.139; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1841 Session 2, V.177), p.186; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Ninth Report (Parl. Papers, 1844, XXIX.391), p.50; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Eleventh Report (Parl. Papers, 1846, XXI.565), p.43; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Twelfth Report (Parl. Papers, 1847-8, XXXV.1), p.46; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Thirteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1847-8, XXXVI.133), p.29; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Fourteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1849, XXVI.93), p.11; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Sixteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1851, XXVII.669), p.123; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Nineteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1854, XXXIV.1), p.18; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain III. Southern and Western District, Twenty-second Report (Parl. Papers, 1857, Session 1, VII.401), p.65; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Twenty-fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1859, Session 1, XI.169), p.15; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Twenty-sixth Report (Parl. Papers, 1861, XXIX.1), p.12; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Twenty-eighth Report (Parl. Papers, 1863, XXIII.1), p.25; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirtieth Report (Parl. Papers, 1865, XXIII.1), p.53; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Southern District, Thirty-first Report (Parl. Papers, 1866, XXXVII.1), p.48

Additional Primary Sources

  • Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, 1818), p. 37.

Management

Archive name: Cornwall Record Office

Catalogue ref: AD933/4

Collection: Cornish Local Acts

Description: Act to provide for the discontinuance of a separate Court of Quarter Sessions and a separate Gaol in the Borough of Falmouth

Dates: 1865


Archive name: Cornwall Record Office

Catalogue ref: QS/1/16/298

Collection: Cornwall Quarter Sessions

Description: Assent of Justices present given conditionally to the conveyance of the Prison at Falmouth to the County to be used as a Lock-up House.

Dates: 1865


Archive name: Cornwall Record Office

Catalogue ref: X394/49

Collection: None

Description: Petition to Town Council of Falmouth for the abolition of the Borough Quarter Sessions and Prison

Dates: 1864


Finance

Archive name: Cornwall Record Office

Catalogue ref: X517/28

Collection: Libraries' records, miscellaneous

Description: Including Gaol and Marshalsea Rates (for the purposes of building a Gaol in Falmouth)

Dates: 1831