Volume 4

[Letters on prisons].

  • Lettsom, John Coakley, 1744-1815.
Date:
[1803-1813]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Letters on prisons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    43/196 (page 27)
    Deserters; and adjoining to it is a subterraneous passage, through which the prisoners are brought into Court for trial. The Act for Preservation of Health, and Clauses against Spirituous Li- quors, are conspicuously hung up; and the whole Prison very clean. Formerly the Debtors in common were used to receive thirty shillings a year from the rent of a house in the town. This, I understand, was a legacy ; but am told it has been dis- continued for many years. No me- morial of it is hung up in the Gaol. In the Debtors’ court there is a poor’s box, put up by Blacked Wise, esq.* Sheriff, January 9, 1808; and oil a board over it is inscribed : Oh! ye whose hours exempt from sorrow flow, [woe! Behold the seat of pain, and want, and 'Think, while your hands th’ intreated alms extend, That what to us ye give, to God ye lend. The County Bridewell. Gaoler, Joseph Chaplin; salary ^80. The County pays to a Turnkey. Number of Prisoners August 19, 1S09, Males 45, Females 31, six chil- dren, and a lunalick. Allowance. One pound and a half of bread per day. Remarks. The Keeper’s house has his garden in front, and com- mands a view of the two court-yards: that for Men is 99 feet by 30; that for women 87 feet by 15; and both are well supplied with hard and soft water. Here are likewise two courts for male and female Vagrants, about 21 feet each by 12, with a sleeping-cell in each about 10 feet square. On the basement-story of the Men’s side is a weaver’s shop, containing a loom, six spinning-wheels, a carding- machine, and a twistjpg-mill; and close to it, a combing and sorting room. In another room above-stairs are seven other looms, ten spinning- wheels, a small carding-machine, and a warping-miil. On the basement- story also in a new adjoining building, are a dye-house, with stoves, and a wash-house, with a staircase at each end. * This gentleman has likewise given to poor Debtors the last two winters a joint of meat, a quantity of garden-stuff, and one cwt, of coals. On a second and principal story is a spinning-room, extending the whole length of the building, capable of containing about thirty spinning- wheels, of which 15 were at work when 1 made my visit. The upper or attick-story has a room to deposit the manufactured goods, and au In- firmary for the Women. The centre building on the base- ment-story has a warm and cold bath, an oven, and a boiler, with pipes to convey water from the reservoir. The principal story has two day- rooms, one for the men, the other for the women, that open into their several court-yards ; and to each of which the County allow one cwt. of coals per dap in the winter, and half a cwt. in the summer months. Like- wise, a room set apart for male con- valescents, to which firing is also al- lowed ; and one solitary cell, about seven feet square. Over these is the chamber-story, in which are the Chapel, three sleeping- cells, and a sleeping-room about 15 feet square: and on the same floor two other lodging-rooms for women, of i*bout 16 feet by 14, and two cells seven feet square. The Gaoler sup- plies those prisoners who pay Is. 6d. per w eek, with a bed, sheets, blankets, and a ru<r. The attick-story, on the men’s side, has a sleeping-room 30 feet by 16, with partitions on the floo,r; and a sick-room 16 feet by 14, furnished with wood turn-up bedsteads, chaff beds, and two rugs each. Adjoining to the latter is a small room about seven feet square, with a fire-place, to prepare and warm their victuals. The women’s side contains two rooms of 16 feet by 14 each, and a smaller, like that for the men, seven feet square. The Chapel is partitioned off for th e sexes, but is much too small for this populous and sometimes crowded Prison. The Prisoners are all re- quired to attend Divine Service, un- less prevented by sickness. The men have their barber weekly, and clean linen once a week, which, is washed and mended by women pri- soners; the County allows soap and towels for all. In sickness, the Sur- geon orders w hatever is proper at the County expence. The women are generally supplied with clothing from the Prison manu- factures,