The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
v. The master felons' side consisted of a yard the same size as the
preceding, appropriated nominally to the most decent and better-behaved
prisoners, but really kept for the few who had funds sufficient to gain
them admission to these more comfortable quarters. Here were also lodged
the gatesmen, the prisoners who had charge of the inner gates, and who
were intrusted with the duty of escorting visitors from the gates to the
various wards their friends occupied.
vi. The state side was the part stolen from the female felons' side. It
was large and comparatively commodious, being maintained on a better
footing than any other part of the prison. The inmates were privileged,
either by antecedents or the fortunate possession of sufficient funds to
pay the charges of the place. Neild takes it for granted that the former
rather than the latter prevailed in the selection, and tells us that in
the state side "such prisoners were safely associated whose manners and
conduct evince a more liberal style of education, and who are therefore
lodged apart from all other districts of the gaol." The state side
contained twelve good-sized rooms, from twenty-one by eighteen feet to
fifteen feet square, which were furnished with bedsteads and bedding.
vii. The press yard was that part set aside for the condemned. Its name
and its situation were the same as those of the old place of carrying
out the terrible sentence inflicted on accused persons who stood
mute.[24] The long narrow yard still remained as we saw it in Jacobite
times, and beyond it was now a day room for the capital convicts or
those awaiting execution. Beyond the press yard were three stories,
condemned cells, fifteen in all, with vaulted ceilings nine feet high to
the crown of the arch. The ground floor cells were nine feet by six;
those on the first floor were rather larger on account of a set-off in
the wall; and the uppermost were the largest, for the same reason.
Security was provided for in these condemned cells by lining the
substantial stone walls with planks studded with broad-headed nails;
they were lighted by a double-grated window two feet nine inches by
fourteen inches; and in the doors, which were four inches thick, a
circular aperture had been let in to give ventilation and secure a free
current of air. In each cell there was a barrack bedstead on the floor
without bedding.
viii. The female felons were deprived of part of the space which the
architect had intended for them. More than half their quadrangle had
been partitioned off for another purpose, and what remained was divided
into a master's and a common side for female felons. The two yards were
adjoining, that for the common side much the largest. There were nine
wards in all on the female side, one of them in the attic, with four
casements and two fireplaces, being allotted for a female infirmary, and
the rest being provided with barrack beds, and in dimensions varying
from thirty feet by fifteen to fifteen feet by ten.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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