Mediaeval Leicester/Chapter 4
IV.
THE PRISONS.
I. THE EARL'S PRISON.
THE most ancient of the mediæval prisons of Leicester was the Castle Dungeon. The partly subterraneous room, which still exists between the Mount and the Hall of the Castle, and which has long been known as "John o' Gaunt's Cellar," has been generally identified with this venerable gaol. A very full and illustrated description of it will be found in James Thompson's account of Leicester Castle, published in 1859. He describes it as a long, dark and damp chamber, the sides and roof of which are constructed of wrought stones. "It is fifty feet from end to end, eighteen feet wide, and twelve feet high from the original floor, now covered over with accumulated earth and rubbish." Thompson came to the conclusion that the walls of the chamber were older than the ceiling, and he conjectured that at some time, not earlier than the middle of the 15th century, an upper room had been built over the original building, probably a guard-room. "But, whatever it may have been," he continues, "the chamber below was evidently a prison, and I doubt not was that erected under the authority of Edward the First, whose grant, dated 1301, is entitled ' De prisona in villa Leicestriae constructend' pro prisona comitatus qui ante usque gaolam Warwici duci "solebant.' "
It is not, however, at all certain that the existing building was really the dungeon of the Castle, as Thompson believed. Other antiquarians, who have studied the character of the structure, and compared it with similar underground places in other castles of the period, have come to an opposite conclusion. They think that it was not built for a prison, but more probably as a cellar for the storage of wine and other domestic supplies.[1]However this may be, there can be little doubt that Thompson was mistaken in supposing that the Castle dungeon was erected under the grant of Edward the First, for it was in use long before 1309, when Edward the First's prison was finished. One man is recorded to have escaped from the "prisona castri Leycestriae" in 1298, and another in 1300. In 1305 the assistant of the keeper of the prison of Lord Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, of the Castle of Leicester, going to visit some prisoners that were in the said prison of his lord, "raised the iron door of the prison, that he might see the prisoners safely, and accidentally tripped against the iron door, so that he fell to the bottom of the said prison, and broke his neck." Further escapes from the Castle dungeon occurred in 1309 and 1318. It was clearly therefore not the prison ordered by King Edward, which indeed, as we shall see, was a county gaol.
The prisoners taken to the Castle dungeon were the Earl's men who were not Leicester men. The Earl had power to seize and hang and confiscate the goods of all thieves caught within his territory. Thus, in 1298, Gilbert Makeleys, of Houghton, "taken on the Earl's liberty in the town of Houghton," was put into the Castle prison. After the new county gaol had been built in 1309, such persons continued to be incarcerated in the Castle gaol. Thus, in the year 1323, a man taken at Stretton-in-the-Street, in Warwickshire, with a stolen bullock, was taken "to the prison of the Castle of Leicester."
II. THE KING'S PRISON, OR COUNTY GAOL.
Until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the counties of Warwick and Leicester were in the charge of one Sheriff, and Leicestershire prisoners at one time were sent, as a rule, to the gaol at Warwick, but tried in the shirecourt which was held at Leicester. Thus prisoners are recorded to have been sent to Warwick gaol from Leicester in 1297 and 1300. The inconvenience of this arrangement was felt and remedied long before a separate Sheriff was appointed for Leicestershire in 1566. Indeed, it was this object which Edward the First had in view when he ordered a prison to be built at Leicester. It was finished eight years later, for in August, 1309, his son Edward the Second, being then at Stamford, sent letters to the Sheriff, signifying that, whereas the late king, Edward, his father, "for the more convenience of the inhabitants of Leicestershire, had, with the consent of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, ordained that a public prison should be made in the town of Leicester, for the safe keeping of all prisoners taken within the said county; "and that, whereas he himself, after the death of his said father, had "by his writ commanded that the said prison, then not wholly finished, should be forthwith completely perfected, so that no prisoner should thenceforth be carried out of the said county of Leicester (as until then was the custom), to the prison at Warwick;" and that whereas he was now credibly given to understand that the said prison was at length accordingly finished; he therefore required "that the said sheriff should cause all such prisoners as should be thenceforth apprehended in the county of Leicester to be safely brought and kept in the said new prison at Leicester until they should thence be delivered in due course."
Four years after this prison was finished, a remarkable thing happened to one of the prisoners. Matthew of Enderby, a thief, who had been caught and taken "ad prisonam domini Regis Leycestriae," was convicted of larceny, and hanged. His body was then borne to the graveyard of the chapel of the hospital of St. John of Leicester, and, while it lay there, awaiting burial, the man came to life again. Such an event as this is an unusually bright spot in the annals of a prison, the dullness of which is relieved, as a rule, only by reports of prisoners' escapes. Many broke out of the county gaol, as they did also from the Castle dungeon and from the town prison. For instance, Elias of Staunton, approver, "broke the King's gaol at Leicester" in the year 1317, and fled for sanctuary to All Saints' Church. Next year a man escaped from the same prison to St. Peter's Church.
In the time of Edward the Second it was ordered, "with the assent of the commonalty," that a hall should be built beyond the county prison, for delivery of prisoners and holding of pleas in. There was, however, some delay in the building of this hall, during which the old Mayor's hall in Blue Boar Lane was used as a court of justice. An interesting report will be found in the Calendar of Patent Rolls of Edward III. 1330-1334, of a Commission granted April 1st, 1332, "on petition of the commonalty of the county of Leicester," which accounts for this delay. It appears that "divers sums of money" had been assessed, for the purpose of building a shirehall, on the townships of the county, "and collectors of the same appointed; but that, although the timber of the hall had been got together out of such assessment, the hall itself was still without a roof and unfinished, because the collectors had kept a great part of the money raised in their own hands." Richard of Egebaston and Robert of Gadesby were therefore appointed" to audit the accounts of the said collectors, to distrain for all arrears, and to complete the work." The names of the delinquent collectors are not disclosed.
The Shirehall appears to have adjoined the garden of St. John's Hospital, for in the Corpus Christi Guild's rental for 1494-5 is a rent "pro uno gardino juxta le Shirehall nuper Sancti Johannis Baptistae Leycestriae"; and in the 17th century a Leicester garden was known as "the Shirehall close." King Edward's prison lay close to the Shirehall, probably north of the Hospital. How long it continued in use is uncertain, but towards the close of the 16th century it seems to have been replaced by another building, erected lower down the old High Street immediately south of Free School Lane. But the new gaol was little better than the old. A prisoner who was interned there in 1690 described it as "a low, moist dungeon"; and, nearly a hundred years later, John Howard, the philanthropist, visited it twice, and gave a lamentable account of its condition. The debtors' sick-ward was actually in the cellar, a dungeon 2912 feet by 9, and 6 ft. 8 in. high, down seven steps, and damp, with two windows, the largest about 15 inches square. The day and night rooms of the felons were close and offensive dungeons, from 5 to 7 steps underground. It is not surprising that Howard condemned this accommodation as "not convenient or healthy." Owing mainly, no doubt, to his representations, the prison was pulled down within a few years of his last visit, and a new County Gaol was then built on the site of the old one. This building, which cost £6,000, was first inhabited in 1793, and one of its earliest occupants is said to have been George Moneypenny, its architect, who thus became a victim of his own handiwork, like the more celebrated artist Perillus.
The present gaol in the Welford Road was built in 1828, and from that time the county gaol in Highcross Street continued in use as a town prison. It was demolished about the year 1880.
III. THE TOWN PRISON.
It would appear that the guarding of prisoners taken within the town and suburbs of Leicester at one time belonged to the Earl's bailiffs. But in the course of the 14th century, as the community grew in power, they claimed to keep their own prisoners. In the year 1375 they obtained from John of Gaunt a formal recognition of their right to do so. They did, however, actually use a prison of their own long before this charter was granted, for a town prison, "prisona villae Leycestriae," is mentioned as early as 1297, and in the opening years of the 14th century we frequently read of prisoners being taken to the "town prison," or escaping from it. Indeed, the Mayor of Leicester, in his account for the year 1323, takes credit for materials and labour which were used " for making the prison in the High Street." The amount expended (two shillings), is so small that the entry cannot relate to any new building, but perhaps indicates that a house already existing was repaired or adapted to hold prisoners. It may be concluded that some building standing in the old High Street, was in use as a prison at the beginning of the 14th century or earlier.
After the Reformation a new town prison was built on the site of the Chapel of St. John's Hospital, at the corner of the old High Street and St. John's Lane, afterwards Causeway Lane. Thompson gives the date of its erection as 1614. Writing about 1791, Throsby said that. it was at that time "a despicable place," and "beneath description." Another building was erected on the same site in 1792, when the foundations of the ancient chapel were discovered. This building remained in use as the Town Gaol until 1828. Nine years after that date it was demolished and some small houses put up where it had been.
IV. THE OLD MAYOR'S HALL.
After their purchase of the Hall of the Corpus Christi Guild in 1563, the Corporation made use of the old Mayor's Hall, in Blue Boar Lane, partly as a coal store, and partly as a prison. In 1573 a stone wall was built, to divide the prisoners from the coals. But long before that time the old hall had been used for the reception of prisoners. It was enacted in 1511 that the Mayor's serjeant should have "of every prisoner committed to the hall for a fray, 4.d., and of every prisoner so committed for any other trespass, 2d. in name of a fee, to mend his wages." Eleven years afterwards, all trespassers that were committed for punishment "to Mr. Mayor's Hall," were required to take their victuals of the serjeant, "except men's" (i.e., freemen's) "sons and apprentices." Members of the governing body of the town who committed offences were punished by some kind of imprisonment in the old hall, but in the year 1580 a resolution was passed, whereby it was provided that in future "such of the 48 as shall hereafter so offend as he or they shall deserve punishment shall be punished at the new hall and no more of that company from henceforth to be punished at the old hall. But it shall be at Mr. Mayor's pleasure whether the hall door shall be locked upon any such offender or not."
V. THE GAINSBOROUGH.
It is said by Thompson that the Gainsborough had been used as a prison and court of justice as early as the reign of Henry the Seventh, and perhaps before that time. It is not mentioned, however, in the published Records of the Borough until the year 1533, when a charge was preferred of using seditious language "in a place called Geynysborow chambere standyng on the market place called Saturday Market in Leicester." It was in use as a prison in 1550.
The Gainsborough was a two storey building erected in the Market Place, a little to the east of the spot on which the present Market House stands. It comprised an upper room, where the justices met both for business and also for pleasant carousing. Beneath the balcony which projected from this chamber on the southern side were some shops, let off to shoemakers, and there was a dungeon below the ground. A servant of Sir Edward Hastings, who was interned there in Queen Mary's reign, expressed his feelings thus:— "Immediately as we were come to Leycetter Master Mayor sent me forthwith to a most vile prison called Gaynsborrow, and then offered to put gyves and fetters upon my legs, and so to lye upon hard planks without bed or straw and without company or comfort."
In 1575 the Deputy Receiver of the Duchy of Lancaster contributed 33s. 6d. "towards the reparacions of Gainsborough Chamber." The Town Chamberlains' Accounts contain several references to meetings held there, such as the following:— "Sheriffs and Justices in Geynsborow chambre," and "Sir Edward Hastings and other of the Justices in Gaynesborowe Chambre sittinge there with Mr. Mayor uppon the Councill's Lettres aboute corne." In 1566 the Mayor made an appointment to meet strangers there, and in 1588 the Chamberlains paid 9 shillings "for a weynescott cheyre remeyninge in Gaynesburye chamber for the Mayor to sytt in by the fyer."
Standing as it did in the most frequented open space of the town, the Gainsborough was far more in evidence than the Town Hall, and even than the High Cross, so that it became a favourite place for demonstrations of all kinds. Thus, a certain Isabel Slater, who had been convicted by the Magistrates, was condemned (inter alia) to be carted about the town in a white sheet and after that to stand up "openly in the open market before the chamber called the Gainsborough Chamber in a white sheet by the space of one hour, between the hours of xi and xii of the clock." When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, her death was proclaimed both at the High Cross and at the Gainsborough. The accessions of Charles I. and Charles II. were also proclaimed at the same places. The building suffered during the tumults of the civil war, for in 1643 the Chamberlains paid 2S. 8d. "for timber and workmanshipp about the chimney at Gainsborow beinge burnt down by the soldiers."
In 1697 the peace of Ryswick was celebrated at Leicester by a bonfire made in the Marketplace near the Gainsborough, and a hogshead of ale was ordered for the people at the public expense. Again, when the news of the Duke of Marlborough's victories in 1704 reached Leicester, the Corporation ordered such a collation and treat to be made at the Gainsborough as Mr. Mayor should think fit, the charges to be paid by the Chamberlains. Bonfires and feastings and public ale drinking followed each success. After the victories in Brabant in 1706 a great public entertainment took place at the Gainsborough. In the previous year the room had been redecorated, and the Queen's arms and other coats there freshly drawn, to which were then added the Earl of Denbigh's. Indeed, the Gainsborough was largely given up to civic festivals. The coronation of George the First was observed with great rejoicing, and "so much ale and wine at night at the Gainsborough as Mr. Mayor should think fit, with bonfires and other demonstrations suitable to the occasion." A similar entertainment — with the addition of tobacco — was provided at the Gainsborough on the proclamation of Peace with Spain, and in the following year the coronation of George the Second was celebrated with equal fervour.
The last of these jubilations took place in 1747, when the naval victories of Anson and Warren were recognised in the usual manner. At the beginning of the following year the Corporation ordered that the Gainsborough and adjoining buildings should be taken down. They were at that time, as Nichols said, "miserably inconvenient." It was resolved, therefore, that "Humphrey Whorstall's house, Coker's kitchen, the Guardhouse and the Piazza, be all pulled down, and a new Gainsborough built on or near as conveniently may be to the place where those buildings stand, according to the plan delivered in by Mr. Mayor at the last Hall ; and that the shambles and shops in the Saturday Market be likewise pulled down and a new shambles with a vault under them be made under the said Gainsborough." The new building was known as the Exchange, and was in existence until 1850.
There was a room under the Toll-booth, in the Market Place, which was sometimes used as a house of detention; and the wooden Cage, a lock-up for petty malefactors, stood at the Berehill Cross, outside the East Gate.
The town possessed at least eight pairs of Stocks, which stood outside each of the four Gates, at the High Cross, outside the Mayor's Hall, under the Pillory, and beneath the great Elmtree, in the Marketplace. Besides the Marketplace Pillory there may have been one placed on the top of the Berehill Cage, as in the case of the Cornhill Pillory in London. A Pillory is recorded to have been made at Leicester in 1300, but there had been older ones.
- ↑ Mr. A. Hamilton Thompson writes: "The 'dungeon' was certainly the cellar at the kitchen end of the great hall." See post, p. 201.