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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- The other weekend Gazz and Zach made their way down to Gloucestershire to visit HMP Gloucester during the last few days of the open prison tours. it was a great day with free roam of most of the complex and on the Sunday the site finally closed its doors for good as redevelopment begins. The site will be changed into housing.
the video is a bit shaky compared to normal because i'm in the process of changing gear and have sold most of my normal stuff so this was all done via Gopro and a pen camera. I decided to do a more documentary based video rather than a simple Gopro view walk-round as well so hopefully that goes down okay. so i do apologise for that the next one should be much better though so stay tuned.
HMP Gloucester history:
HMP Gloucester was a category B mens prison, first built in 1791 and designed by the famed Georgian prison architect William Blackburn. The doors first opened in July 1792 as Gloucester county gaol and penitentiary, the replaced the old jail within the grounds of the ancient castle. The new prison allowed for dividing male and female prisoners while also separating people awaiting trial from sentenced prisoners. In total the site covered 3 acres consisting of a main building holding the gaol and penitentiary and a house of corrections building. a total of 207 prisoners was allocated for at this time. Public executions took place originally on the first gatehouse which was located to the east of the buildings. this original gatehouse can still be seen now incorporated into the entrance of A and B wing. In 1820 John Collingwood designed extensions and alterations for the prison including extending the perimeter walls, adding a new debtors prison to the east and a new gatehouse which can be seen still further down from the administration block. After the new admin block and gatehouse was built in the 1980s the older gatehouse was turned into a prison museum but closed in the early 2000s. from 1826-1868 executions took place on the top of the new gatehouse until a law passed to move them away from public eye. From 1844-1850 Thomas Fulljames created the three story A and B wing cell blocks, he also added a new chapel wing to the west. The prison could now hold 350 prisoners and the name was changed to Gloucester county prison. 1863 a new governors house was built along the wall of the prison site. in 1878 the prison past from county magistrates to a HM prison and by the turn of the century most of the original buildings were demolished and by 1904 the female cell block was also demolished, after this no female prisoners returned to the prison. C wing was added in the 1960s and by 1985 major construction became on the prison including new gatehouses and admin buildings. in 2003 Gloucester was named among the 20 most over crowded prisons in the uk, the day after this study a 4 hour siege broke out by protesting prisoners. In June 2007 the Independent monitoring board criticised the prison for overcrowding and poor conditions. the next month over 100 prisoners had to be moved as the ground floor had become submerged in water. A time bank scheme was launched at the prison in February 2006 were prisoners could build bicycles in exchanged for time served. this scheme carried on until the sites closure. Justice secretary Chris Grayling announced on 10th January 2013 that the site would become on of seven uk prisons to close for good. on the 31st of march the prison closed its doors for good. Remains of a large Norman castle were found in 2015 in the former exercise yard.
Notable inmates include:
- Fred West on remand shortly
- Sinn Fein founding members Pierce Mccan and Arthur Griffth
- Herbert Armstrong, the only solicitor in the uk to be hanged for murder
-Stefan Kiszko, worst miscarriage of uk justice
Around 245 prisoners were hanged at the prison from 1792-1939
and some are buried on the site still to this day.
All music created by Seamus White
seamuswhite.ba...
/ seamuswhitemusic
Great work, Gazz!!
nice one dan
it is still open for tours and other things
Wayne Sadler really? Didn’t they start the flat works in the end? When we went for this day the prison tour company was literally packing up and leaving the site. Might of managed to swing a last year from the deal then! Defo worth the tour if it’s still going on. They also do another 3 other prison uk tours which are great