Report (Permission Visit) H.M.P. Lancaster Castle Prison - July 2014

[Derelict-UK]

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

It is said that over 7,000 people attended the final public 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 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​

 

[Telf]

Very cool, thanks for sharing

 

[mrg9999]

Nice photos. My only critique, is the maybe watermark is a tad too large.

 

[Leeds(Ex)plorer]

as above on the watermark but great photos

 

[Derelict-UK]

Tanks for the feedback, I appreciate the constructive comments on the watermark but it has gone through many versions over the years and I am happy to stick with this one. But noted anyway.

 

[Wevsky]

Now thats nice mate the building exterior alone is worth photographing

 

[seaven]

I used to have to walk past the thing every day. Never thought I'd see the inside though. Good going.

 

[Kaplan]

Big yes to this.

 

[tumbles]

Did this last October, it's disappointing really that they only let you into a minisule part of what was the live jail..that and not being able to photo the courts sucks.

One day hopefully all will be accessible.

 

[Vixxie]

Brilliant! Thanks for documenting.

 

[EasyRiser]

Walk past this every day to work, did the same tour earlier this year, there are plans to open more up to the public, I wouldn't mind having having a look down those gated stairs opposite the cafe they look pretty dungeony, also a walk along the roof/ ramparts would be nice.

 

[scotty markfour]

i was an extra in a zombie film that was shot inside the main prison part , we played the part of rioting prisoners trying to get out because of a zombie outbreak in the prison

 

[Arni]

Cool like it lots