REVIEW AND ANALYSIS 41 VICTORIAN PRISONS THE CHALLENGE OF ADAPTATION JONATHAN TAYLOR NOT ALL building types readily lend themselves to new uses. In the case of the most important ones, developing them as visitor attractions or as museums may be the only option, but there may be a limit to the number of these that you can have before supply exceeds demand, making the new use unsustainable. Prisons are a case in point. Since 2010, the Ministry of Justice has closed more than a dozen prisons across England and Wales. The first major wave came in 2013, when Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced the simultaneous closure of seven; HMP Bullwood Hall (Essex), HMP Canterbury, HMP Gloucester, HMP Kingston (Portsmouth), HMP Camp Hill (Isle of Wight), HMP Shrewsbury and HMP Shepton Mallet. These closures were part of a programme intended to save £63 million per year in running costs. Further disposals followed, including HMP Dorchester, HMP Reading (closed 2013, sold 2016) and HMP Dartmoor (currently closed). The justification has consistently been the same: Victorian gaols are expensive to run, difficult to adapt, and incompatible with modern custodial practice. From a heritage perspective, distinct architectural forms of prisons are unmistakeable even in dense, urban areas, and these buildings are of great significance architecturally, historically and culturally. Of the seven 2013 closures alone, all except HMP Bullwood Hall were listed at Grade II or above. HMP Shepton Mallet, the oldest, had multiple Grade II* designations covering its early 19th-century cell blocks and a rare surviving treadwheel house designed by William Cubitt in 1823. HMP Shrewsbury was listed Grade II, with fabric dating to 1877 and foundations concealing the remains of an earlier Georgian gaol beneath. English Heritage’s 2002 survey English Prisons: An Architectural History provided critical groundwork, and Historic England continues to assess the significance of buildings as they come forward for disposal. HMP Bullwood Hall has since been demolised, and all the listedbuildings now facing an uncertain future are the physical legacy of one of the great social reform movements of the 19th century. Before the 1770s, county gaols were typically medieval structures of mixed function, holding debtors, people awaiting trial, and the condemned alike. The great philanthropist and prison reformer John Howard (1726 –1790) visiting Shepton Mallet in the 1770s The north entrance to Shepton Mallet prison shortly before its closure in 2013 (Photo: Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0)
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