New Bailey Prison

 Extended 1816

THE NEW BAILEY - In the Guardian of the 17th inst. we described at some length the new county gaol in Strangeways. It may be interesting, on the eve of its abandonment to say a few words about the old gaol, the New Bailey; which when erected was thought the best prison in the kingdom. An old sheet of paper framed and hung in the Governor’s office contains the following:

Copy of the inscription on the first stone of the new gaol in Salford. On the 22d of May 1787, and in the 27th year of the reign of George Ill. King of Great Britain, France. and Ireland, this gaol and penitentiary-house (at expense of the hundred of Salford, in the county palatine of Lancaster) was begun to be erected; and the first stone laid by Thomas Butterworth Bayley; and that there may remain to posterity a monument of the affection and gratitude of this country to that most excellent person who hath so fully proved the wisdom and humanity of separate and solitary confinement of offenders, this prison is inscribed with the name of John Howard. William Blackburne, architect; C. Wheeler, printer.

The inscribed name has never been the popular name; but the name of the chairman of the quarter sessions who laid the foundation stone with the prefix "new" to distinguish the prison from the Old Bailey, in London, is that by which it has been known. The plan of the gaol thus commenced upwards of 80 years ago, was an octagon with four radiating arms. It is often supposed that this plan originated in the United States; but such is not the case, as the first prison built in America on the radiating principle succeeded this. But the Americans improved upon the Salford plan. Here the octagon formed the chapel, and in each wing there was, and is still, a floor to each storey, forming an avenue between the cells. In America the wings were open to the central building, and were also themselves open from floor to ceiling through all the storeys. This is the plan of our new county gaol, the communication from the being from open galleries, as described last week. From end to end of the gaol of 1787 the length is 145 feet, and, excluding the octagon, each wing is 45 feet long and three storeys high. This was the entire amount of accommodation required 80 years ago for the offenders in the towns of Manchester and Salford, and in this division of the county. To contrast this with the present state of things in the new county gaol, from end to end of the two opposite wings (and the number of wings is six), is a length of 500 feet, and is exclusive of the women's separate building, and of the city gaol, where all the Manchester offenders are confined. Such is one consequence of the growth of population in this neighbourhood. The cells in the gaol of 1787 are smaller than those now made, were originally almost devoid of fittings, are ventilated by an oval opening some height above the door, and are closed by a thick wooden door, which is again secured by another door, a foot or two beyond it, made of cross bars of iron. The end of the wing is closed by a massive wooden door, which swings upon its centre, and is secured on both sides. Although the system of prison management which resulted from Howard's labours was an immense improvement upon the idleness and communication between the prisoners which previously prevailed. some practises were still continued which public feeling subsequently repressed. A relic of these remains in the gaol in two scolds' bridles, which have doubtless been used oftener than we like to imagine, forcibly to hold of women otherwise irrepressible.

As population increased the prison was found inadequate, and extensions were made at various times, and principally in 1816. In these extensions the original plan was entirely departed from, and the building of 1787 remains to this day an almost detached building, and pretty much as it was at first, except that the octagon is no longer the chapel. The piece of ground enclosed by the present gaol wall measures 685 feet from New Bailey Street, westward to Irwell Street, and 350 feet at its greatest breadth, from the entrance, in Stanley-street, to Upper Booth-street, opposite the railway viaduct. During some local disturbances, two small round turrets were erected at each angle of the walls, and pierced, so that person within might be in perfect safety while directing o musketry fire upon assailants of the-gaol from any approaches. These turrets are perched upon the wall without any means of access from the inside except by temporary ladders. Formerly there were twelve such turrets; now the number is eight, and consequent upon the rounding of the angle at Irwell-street Stanley-street, the two at that point have been removed some distance from each other. Parallel to the wall opposite the viaduct, are two rows of buildings, extending a length of 430 feet. The outer row is of workshops, and the inner of cells, both for misdemeanants. The refractory cells, hospitals, and schoolroom are on these two lines. Extending south-westwards from the schoolroom are two rows of buildings, forming what may be best described, though not quite accurately, as two concentric segments of a circle. The outer one is occupied above by workshops and dining-rooms for felons, while there are separate cells used as workshops below; and the inner row is occupied by the felons' cells for sleeping. The old four-armed prison is now mainly appropriated to women, male prisoners only occupying one of the arms. Between the felons' workshops and the boundary wall is a piece of ground where, some thirty years ago, vegetables grew abundantly, and the wall of the workshops bore a splendid crop of currants. But the chemical and other works in the neighbourhood, and the exhalations of the river have changed all that, and but rhubarb will grow there now. At the other end of the prison buildings, and parallel with New Bailey-street, is a single row, partly occupied by workshops for women. and partly by the female felons' wards.

Besides the principal buildings we have described, smaller erections occupy various portions of the ground, as the chapel, which is circular, and remarkable for the excessive height of the pulpit; the treadwheels, the mill-house, the wash-house, and the residences and offices of the turnkeys and clerks. Between various parts of this mass of buildings are some twenty enclosed yards, many of which are used as exercising grounds. The pile of buildings over and on either side of the Stanley- street entrance, includes the Governor's and gate-keeper's houses and offices, a court-house containing two courts, and lock-up wards.

In this inconvenient and old-fashioned gaol, Captain Mitchell, the governor, has brought to its present excellence the industrial system which makes this gaol one of least costly, if not absolutely the most inexpensive, the country. This system will be carried to the new gaol in Strangeways, where, however, the greater area will inevitably involve an Increase of the prison staff, and hence a greater expenditure. The mention of prisoners' work reminds us that one of the most melancholy sights which struck us, on a visit last week to the New Bailey was that of a number of men, upwards of forty, who, while they await their trial, are not permitted by the law to be put to enforced work, and many of whom sit listlessly the whole day through, doing nothing whatever. Others do manage to disturb the monotony by reading. It is great misfortune for this class that they may not be set to some employment which, while it would be healthy occupation, could not be considered "hard labour."

As the new gaol has been inspected by the Government officer, the removal of the prisoners from the New Bailey will take place very shortly. Mr. H. L. Trafford, the stipendiary magistrate for the hundred, win sit for the first time at the new court-house in Strangeways on the 1st of July. [Manchester Guardian 23 June 1868 page 6]

Reference           Manchester Guardian 23 June 1868 page 6