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Authors: Stephen Halliday
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commentator, writing shortly after the building was demolished, wrote that Dance was ‘determined to appeal to the emotions by the sheer bulk and proportion of his wall’ 12 .
First, however, the money had to be found to carry out the work. In 1766, in the face of campaigners such as Janssen, an Act of Parliament authorised a loan of £50,000 to be raised to rebuild Newgate and the Old Bailey. This was to be repaid from the coal dues, a tax originally levied on coal brought to London to repay for the rebuilding of the City after the Great Fire of 1666. In May 1770 the Lord Mayor laid the foundation stone and the reconstruction of the prison and courthouse began, though in 1778 the Corporation had to gain authorisation for a further loan of £40,000. Work on the two buildings proceeded together, though the massive, fortress-like structure of the prison contrasted with the more elegant design of the sessions house, both in its external appearance and in its internal facilities. Within the sessions house there was a single courtroom, but there was also a room for witnesses who had previously had to wait in a nearby pub. The Lord Mayor’s dining room was luxuriously appointed with a mosaic, an expensive Turkish carpet, mahogany furniture and a fine wine vault.
Work on the prison was almost complete when the rioters descended upon it in 1780, but the reconstruction was completed by 1785 and Newgate remained London’s principal prison until the middle of the nineteenth century when it ceased to be an ordinary prison and became a place of temporary detention for those awaiting trial at the Old Bailey and for those awaiting execution. It remained London’s principal place of execution until it was demolished in 1902.
In 1797, at about the time that Newgate was being constructed, New York was building its first state prison. The newly independent citizens of the United States named their prison in New York Newgate in recognition of the fame of the original and it remained New York’s principal prison until it was replaced by Sing Sing in 1828.
Dance’s design for the new prison was characterised by massive, forbidding, external walls relieved only by four niches containing statues and a few narrow windows in the keeper’s house, which was at the centre of the long wall which ran from Newgate Street south along the Old Bailey. The statues in the four niches represented Liberty, Justice, Peace and Plenty. The irony of these figures was not lost on the acerbic architect and garden designer Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856–1942), who wrote of the statues that ‘there was a bitter irrelevance in their presence on this building for they were gracious and kindly and dearly loved by the pigeons of St Paul’s’. Writing of the destruction of the building by the Gordon Rioters Blomfield added, ‘The instincts of the mob of 1780 were sound, for the place with its narrow windows and gloomy yards seems to me to have been about as hopelessly human as it is possible to imagine.’ 13 The massive windowless walls were certainly forbidding and were presumably intended to emphasise the seriousness of the business that was transacted within them as well as impeding escape attempts. The building was demolished in 1902, but some comparisons have been made with the windowless lower walls of the Bank of England where security was also a concern and which was designed by Dance’s pupil Sir John Soane. Much of the interior of the gaol was redesigned by the City architect Sir Horace Jones (1819–87) better remembered as the architect of Tower Bridge and Smithfield’s meat market.
THE NEWGATE DROP
The reconstruction of the gaol from its charred remains coincided with the end of the notorious Tyburn processions, since in 1783 public executions were removed from Tyburn to Newgate itself, where they were carried out on a scaffold erected outside the prison the night before. On 7 November 1783 John Austin was the last man to be hanged at
First, however, the money had to be found to carry out the work. In 1766, in the face of campaigners such as Janssen, an Act of Parliament authorised a loan of £50,000 to be raised to rebuild Newgate and the Old Bailey. This was to be repaid from the coal dues, a tax originally levied on coal brought to London to repay for the rebuilding of the City after the Great Fire of 1666. In May 1770 the Lord Mayor laid the foundation stone and the reconstruction of the prison and courthouse began, though in 1778 the Corporation had to gain authorisation for a further loan of £40,000. Work on the two buildings proceeded together, though the massive, fortress-like structure of the prison contrasted with the more elegant design of the sessions house, both in its external appearance and in its internal facilities. Within the sessions house there was a single courtroom, but there was also a room for witnesses who had previously had to wait in a nearby pub. The Lord Mayor’s dining room was luxuriously appointed with a mosaic, an expensive Turkish carpet, mahogany furniture and a fine wine vault.
Work on the prison was almost complete when the rioters descended upon it in 1780, but the reconstruction was completed by 1785 and Newgate remained London’s principal prison until the middle of the nineteenth century when it ceased to be an ordinary prison and became a place of temporary detention for those awaiting trial at the Old Bailey and for those awaiting execution. It remained London’s principal place of execution until it was demolished in 1902.
In 1797, at about the time that Newgate was being constructed, New York was building its first state prison. The newly independent citizens of the United States named their prison in New York Newgate in recognition of the fame of the original and it remained New York’s principal prison until it was replaced by Sing Sing in 1828.
Dance’s design for the new prison was characterised by massive, forbidding, external walls relieved only by four niches containing statues and a few narrow windows in the keeper’s house, which was at the centre of the long wall which ran from Newgate Street south along the Old Bailey. The statues in the four niches represented Liberty, Justice, Peace and Plenty. The irony of these figures was not lost on the acerbic architect and garden designer Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856–1942), who wrote of the statues that ‘there was a bitter irrelevance in their presence on this building for they were gracious and kindly and dearly loved by the pigeons of St Paul’s’. Writing of the destruction of the building by the Gordon Rioters Blomfield added, ‘The instincts of the mob of 1780 were sound, for the place with its narrow windows and gloomy yards seems to me to have been about as hopelessly human as it is possible to imagine.’ 13 The massive windowless walls were certainly forbidding and were presumably intended to emphasise the seriousness of the business that was transacted within them as well as impeding escape attempts. The building was demolished in 1902, but some comparisons have been made with the windowless lower walls of the Bank of England where security was also a concern and which was designed by Dance’s pupil Sir John Soane. Much of the interior of the gaol was redesigned by the City architect Sir Horace Jones (1819–87) better remembered as the architect of Tower Bridge and Smithfield’s meat market.
THE NEWGATE DROP
The reconstruction of the gaol from its charred remains coincided with the end of the notorious Tyburn processions, since in 1783 public executions were removed from Tyburn to Newgate itself, where they were carried out on a scaffold erected outside the prison the night before. On 7 November 1783 John Austin was the last man to be hanged at
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