Is situated on a dry, beautiful, and salubrious eminence, a short
distance from the Castle.
The front of the prison displays rather a bold appearance, having two
rusticated stone lodges and a gateway in the centre; over the latter is a
bust of the philanthropic HOWARD, by Bacon.
The interior possesses every necessary convenience appropriate to its
purpose that sagacity and humanity can devise. It is spacious, airy, and
well supplied with water, by means of a pump worked by the prisoners.
The governor’s house faces the gateway, and forms the southern front of
the building. The chapel stands in the centre of the whole, and is
lighted by a lantern surmounted by a gilt cross. It is octagonal, and
contrived that while all the prisoners may see the clergyman, every class
is so separated as to be hid from each other.
The prison is further divided into eight principal courts, besides other
smaller ones; these are surrounded by cloisters with groined arches;
above these are the sleeping cells, the communication to which is by
railed galleries. A due regard to the gradations of vice is strictly
observed in the classification of the prisoners, most of whom are
occupied during the day in some little manufactory or useful employment,
by which habits of industry are acquired that may protect them from
temptations to plunder or misconduct when released from confinement.
Executions take place on the roof of the porter’s lodge.
The prison was begun in 1787, and completed (from a plan by Mr. Haycock)
in 1793, at an expense of about £30,000. The entire building is
surrounded by a strong brick wall, flanked with rusticated stone
buttresses.