History of the County Buildings of Northamptonshire, England

The old County Gaol in Northampton having been recently abolished and partly pulled down, I thought it might be a matter of some interest to local Archaeologists, and a small addition to the History of the County of Northampton, to have an account of the building of this Gaol.

 

Table of Contents

The County Gaol, Northampton 1
Governors of the County Gaol 25
Her Majesty's Prison, Northampton 26
Brackley Gaol 27
Daventry Gaol 27
Kettering Bridewell 28
Northampton Town Gaol 28
Oundle Bridewell 28
Peterborough Gaol 29
Peterborough Bridewell 30
The County Hall 33
Clerks of the Peace 48
The Judges' Lodgings 51
List of Tracts written in the County Gaol 53
The Gaol Charities 55
Addenda 56

 

Read the Book - Free

Download the Book - Free ( 1.2 MB PDF )

The management of Gaols is a question that has long engaged the attention of the Legislator, the Philosopher, and the Philanthropist. Since "the good old times" there has been a great improvement in Gaols; and the following notes of these changes, as far as the same relate to the County of Northampton, may be interesting to many who have never considered the fate of prisoners in the olden times.

The Castle was used as the Common Gaol in those good old times, and it probably continued to be used for this purpose until the commencement of the seventeenth century.