[an error occurred while processing this directive] County Bridewell, Berkeley, Gloucestershire
Ancestry UK

County Bridewell, Berkeley, Gloucestershire

By at least 1711, a Gloucestershire County Bridewell, or House of Correction, was in existence at Berkeley, Gloucestershire.

In 1784, John Howard described it as:

Quite out of repair. Only one room for men and women, 18 feet 4 inches by 15 feet 4, and 7 feet 9 inches high: the window (near 4 feet square) not glazed; no straw: no chimney: court not secure. Nothing has been laid out on this prison these twenty years. The sensible old keeper lamented the bad effects of close confinement in idleness, upon the health of even young strong prisoners. Many such, he said, he had known quite incapable of working for some weeks after their discharge. He told me, that some years ago his prisoners used to grind malt for a penny a bushel; and the justices would not licence any victualler whose malt was not ground here: but that of late years they have done no work at all. No allowance. Keeper, Francis Norman: his salary, £20; but he pays out of it £6 to the poor of the parish for ground-rent: fees, 4s. 4d. no table.

1774, Aug. 22,Prisoners 31779, June 9,Prisoners 0.
1775, Dec. 6,01782, Oct. 251.

The establishment was closed following the passing of the Gloucestershire Act of 1785, which provided for the closure of several existing bridewells and the construction of several new ones, mostly at different locations.

Records

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Bibliography

  • Prison Oracle - resources those involved in present-day UK prisons.
  • GOV.UK - UK Government's information on sentencing, probation and support for families.