Her Majesty's Prison Lancaster Castle - July 2014

Her Majesty's Prison Lancaster Castle

Lancaster Castle is one of the oldest castle’s in England. It has been used as a prison since 1196. In its years as a prison, its most famous inmates were the Pendle Witches who were tried and held at the castle. The castle still has two courts in use (and by law, protected from photography), one a large civil court that was also once used to try the Birmingham Six and second a small crown court which has a rare witness box which is positioned so the witness is actually higher than the judge.

The prison also liked its fair share of hangings, the following is a section of Wiki:

Those sentenced to death at the castle were usually taken to Lancaster Moor, near where the Ashton Memorial now stands, to be hanged. After the Georgian remodelling of the castle, it was decided it would be more convenient to perform executions nearer the castle. The spot chosen became known as Hanging Corner. Lancaster has a reputation as the court that sentenced more people to death than any other in England. This is partly because until 1835 Lancaster Castle was the only Assize Court in the entire county and covered rapidly growing industrial centres including Manchester and Liverpool. Between 1782 and 1865, around 265 people were hanged at Lancaster; the executions were frequently attended by thousands of people crowded into the churchyard. The Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868 ended public executions, requiring that criminals be put to death in private, after which executions were performed inside the castle. The last execution at Lancaster took place in 1910

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It is said that over 7,000 people attended the final hanging.

The prison originally had a male and female wing but in the Twentieth Century this was changed to single (male) sex.

The prison closed in 2011 and after an application to turn part of it into a hotel was refused, it is now a tourist attraction (I visited on a tour) and working courts combined.

I can remember going to college in Lancaster and a friend living (literally) a stones throw from here and always imagining what it would look like inside so it was great to finally get a peek. Apparently they turned part of it into a 3 night only rave too! 500 people in a small wing, intimate!!

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6. The new white metal area is where the prison van reverses into to unload prisoners for trial at court.


7. Until 2011 the boarded area was the prison's kitchen to supply the whole complex with food.


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D-UK​