Folkestone Borough Gaol

Overview

Details

Records

Overview

Alternative Names   Folkestone Gaol, Folkestone Town Gaol

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

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   [1830]

Date closed   [1851]

Location   Guildhall, Sandgate Road (Rendezvous Street)   Folkestone

Map location   exact or closely approximate

County   Kent

Critical Remarks

Folkestone Gaol at the Guildhall was constructed in 1830. It is not known whether the previous borough gaol that it replaced was located on the same site, so both are included in this record. By the mid 1840s, the gaol had become a lock up. Last appears in the penal statistics for 1850.

Prison Info

Alternative Names   Folkestone Gaol, Folkestone Town Gaol

Prison Type   Local Prison

Jurisdiction   Municipality

Date opened   [1830]

Date closed   [1851]

Location   Guildhall, Sandgate Road (Rendezvous Street)   Folkestone

Map location   exact or closely approximate
Lat.   51.0799357  Long.   1.1811333

County   Kent

Critical Remarks

Folkestone Gaol at the Guildhall was constructed in 1830. It is not known whether the previous borough gaol that it replaced was located on the same site, so both are included in this record. By the mid 1840s, the gaol had become a lock up. Last appears in the penal statistics for 1850.

Prisoner Statistics

 

Year 1818

Annual Committed   -   4

Daily Greatest number   -   2

 

Year 1828

Annual Committed   -   6

Daily Census   -   0

 

Year 1832

Annual Committed   -   7

Daily Greatest number   -   3

 

Year 1838

Annual Confined   -   6

Daily Census   -   0

 

Year 1843

Annual Confined   -   32

Daily Census   -   0

 

Year 1848

Annual Confined   -   22

Daily Daily average   -   0

Principal Primary Sources

  • Account of Gaols, Houses of Correction or Penitentiaries in the United Kingdom, 1818 (Parl. Papers, 1819, XVII.371), p.24
  • 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.20
  • Reports and Schedules Pursuant to Gaol Acts (1829, XIX.401), p.66
  • Return of Places of Confinement Outside Gaol Acts in England and Wales (Parl. Papers, 1833, XXVIII.425), p.46
  • Royal Commission of Inquiry into Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, First Report, Appendices: Part 2 (Parl. Papers, 1835, XXIII.133), p.983
  • Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Second Report (Parl. Papers, 1837, XXXII.1), p.51; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fourth Report (Parl. Papers, 1839, XXI.1), p.243; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Tenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1845, XXIII.1), p.364; Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain I. Home District, Fourteenth Report (Parl. Papers, 1850, XXVIII.1), p.73

Additional Primary Sources

  • Samuel Bagshaw, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Kent, Volume II (1847), p. 432.

Management

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Fo/FC1/3/18

Collection: Folkestone Borough

Description: Stephen Hobday - vouchers, including payments to the Band (with lists of bandsmen), and Pledge's bill 'to Repair Irons and put on the Prisoners in ye Gaol'. 

Dates: 1819-1820 


Prisoners

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Fo/FC1/3/22

Collection: Folkestone Borough

Description: Includes list of prisoners confined in the Gaol 'since last General Sessions'. 

Dates: 1823-1825


Land & Buildings

Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: Fo/AV/55

Collection: Folkestone Borough

Description: Improvement Act (1855) Papers. Rendezvous Street. Papers re the conveyance of the Cistern House (ie Town Hall, Guildhall), including the Steward's rooms and apartments 'now occupied by the Deputy Gaoler', and the Gaol, gaolyard and garden

Dates: 1855–1856


Archive name: Kent History & Library Centre

Catalogue ref: EK/U270/T246

Collection: None

Description: Counterpart leases - Folkestone (30 docUMENTS), Hawkinge (2 documents), Cheriton (1 document), lease for the market building (1830). Shows plan of the Gaol. 

Dates: 1822-1864