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Ancestry UK

Town Bridewell, Warrington, Lancashire

A Town Bridewell, or House of Correction, was in existence in Warrington by the late sixteenth century. By the 1770s, it occupied two rooms in the yard of the workhouse on Church Street. In 1784, John Howard described it as:

Two rooms in the work-house yard; one about 9 feet square, with bedstead and straw; the other about 9 feet by 5: no windows, Allowance for diet, the same as the poor, who, by their appearance, seem to have a humane attention paid to them. The constables of the town are keepers.

1776, March 20, 1779, Dec. 30, and 1784, February 24, No prisoners.

In 1812, James Neild wrote:

Keeper, J. Boardman, who is also Master of the Workhouse.

Number of Prisoners,
1802, Oct. 10th, Four. 1809, Nov. 11th, None.

Allowance, one shilling each per day.

REMARKS.

This Prison is a detached building, consisting of two rooms, or cells, in the Workhouse Yard, of about 9 feet by 6, with vaulted roofs, and stone-floors. Each has a wooden bedstead, with loose straw, and two rugs. A tub supplies the place of a sewer. The only light or ventilation is from a circular aperture, about 2 inches in diameter, made in the wooden door of one cell, and a wicket 6 inches square in the iron door of the other.

No water accessible, but as brought in by the Keeper. He informed me that Prisoners were sometimes confined here a fortnight, and never permitted to come out of their wretched and offensive cells, except when the Town Constable thinks proper, and finds it convenient to attend them!

in 1818, the bridewell was relocated to the north side of Irlam Street (now Buttermarket Street) and formed part of the new Sessions House building.

The prison site is shown on the 1851 map below.

Town Bridewell site, Warrington, c.1851.

The bridewell continued in use as a lock-up until the end of the century.

Records

Note: many repositories impose a closure period of up to 100 years for records identifying individuals. Before travelling a long distance, always check that the records you want to consult will be available.

  • No individual records identified for this establishment — any information welcome.
  • The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU. Has a wide variety of crime and prison records going back to the 1770s, including calendars of prisoners, prison registers and criminal registers.
  • Find My Past has digitized many of the National Archives' prison records, including prisoner-of-war records, plus a variety of local records including Manchester, York and Plymouth. More information.
  • Prison-related records on Ancestry UK include Prison Commission Records, 1770-1951, and local records from London, Swansea, Gloucesterhire and West Yorkshire. More information.
  • The Genealogist also has a number of National Archives' prison records. More information.

Bibliography

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

Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.