The Copy Book

There’s Nae Good Luck in Durham Gaol

On his visits to Durham Gaol, prison reformer John Howard found conditions that were all too familiar.

Part 1 of 3

1774-76
In the Time of

King George III 1760-1820

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There’s Nae Good Luck in Durham Gaol

After Thomas Miles Richardson (1784-1848), via the British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Source

Durham Gaol, over the old North Gate.

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The North Gate of Durham Castle, a lithograph after a painting by Thomas Miles Richardson (1784-1848), as it was before its demolition in 1820 to ease traffic flow on the approach to Durham Cathedral. This was Durham Gaol when John Howard visited the city in the later 1770s. The Gaol was part of the Bishop’s Palace, and in fairness some bishops did attempt to redress some of the wrongs Howard recorded. One of those who is remembered for unwearying work for the reform and fair treatment of the inmates was Bernard Gilpin (1517-1583), Rector of Houghton-le-Spring.

Back to text

Durham Gaol, over the old North Gate.

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After Thomas Miles Richardson (1784-1848), via the British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

The North Gate of Durham Castle, a lithograph after a painting by Thomas Miles Richardson (1784-1848), as it was before its demolition in 1820 to ease traffic flow on the approach to Durham Cathedral. This was Durham Gaol when John Howard visited the city in the later 1770s. The Gaol was part of the Bishop’s Palace, and in fairness some bishops did attempt to redress some of the wrongs Howard recorded. One of those who is remembered for unwearying work for the reform and fair treatment of the inmates was Bernard Gilpin (1517-1583), Rector of Houghton-le-Spring.

Introduction

‘There’s Nae Good Luck in Durham Gaol’ was the title of a music-hall song by Tyneside song-maker Tommy Armstrong (1848-1919). It would have been scant consolation to know it, but conditions in the 1770s were far worse than in Tommy’s day. Here, pioneering prison reformer John Howard takes us on a very personal guided tour.

THE high gaol is the property of the Bishop.* By patent from his lordship, Sir Hedworth Williamson Bart, is perpetual sheriff. The court for master’s-side debtors is only 24 feet by 10: they are permitted sometimes to walk on the leads.* They have beds in the upper hall and in several other rooms. Their rooms should be ceiled, that they might be lime-whited, to prevent infectious disorders, and that great nuisance of bugs, of which the debtors complain much here and at other places.

Common-side debtors have no court; their free wards,* the Low Gaol, are two damp unhealthy rooms 10 feet 4 inches square, by the gateway: they are never suffered to go out of these, unless to chapel, which is the master’s-side debtors hall; and not always to that: for on a Sunday when I was there, and missed them at chapel, they told me they were not permitted to go thither. No sewers: at more than one of my visits, I learned that the dirt, ashes, &c. had lain there many months. There is a double barrelled pump, which raises water about 70 feet. Felons have no court;* but they have a day-room and two small rooms for an infirmary.

Continue to Part 2

* Durham Gaol was at this time located within the North Gate of Durham Castle, the sprawling town palace of the Bishops of Durham. Howard first visited in 1774. In 1779, Howard records, it was home to twelve male debtors and two female debtors, and twenty-two felons (sex not stated). Petty offenders were held at the Bridewell, on the north side of Elvet Bridge. The two prisons were amalgamated in 1819 and moved across the River Wear to a location near the courthouse, forming the prison we see today.

* That is, in the gutters, the wide strips of lead where rainwater gathers as it drains from the roof tiles.

* The free wards were for debtors who could not afford the charges levied by the gaol for the nicer areas. “Many gaolers and turnkeys had no salaries,” William Lecky tells us, speaking of gaols across England, “and lived on the fees extorted from the prisoners, and on the profits of the prison tap, which was usually in the gaoler's hands. Some kept public-houses, and supplied the richer prisoners with drink.” In some places, the tap-room was so good that it became a public bar.

* Felons were prisoners who had been convicted of serious crimes, or felonies. Those guilty of misdemeanours, or petty offences, were held in the Bridewell on Elvet Bridge. The distinction between felony and misdemeanour was abolished by the Criminal Law Act 1967.

Word Games

Sevens Based on this passage

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why did Howard find Sunday service in the chapel especially dispiriting?

Suggestion

Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.

Jigsaws Based on this passage

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

John Howard visited Durham gaol. The cells were cramped. He recorded their dimensions.

Variation: Try rewriting your sentence so that it uses one or more of these words: 1. Length 2. Small 3. Write

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