The History of Newcastle... Crime and Punishment

Newcastle Gaol The year 1400AD saw a big political change to Newcastle, when King Henry IV granted a charter that separated Newcastle from Northumberland, essentially making the town into a county of its own right. A significant exclusion to this was the castle and its lands, which remained part of Northumberland. With this, The Keep became Northumberland's county gaol, and Newgate, on the town wall, became a gaol for the town authorities. King Henry IV then marched from Newcastle to attack the Scots, first on 7th August, and again on 3rd September.

Newcastle Gaol In 1485, the Keep is reported still to be the county gaol, and that because it was part of Northumberland, and therefore outside of local authority jurisdiction, many offenders used to take refuge inside the Castle yard. This continued for over a century until in 1589 Queen Elizabeth finally granted the town authorities license to enter the grounds to seize criminals, and at this time the Keep is reported to be 'old and ruinous'.

Newcastle Gaol Again, by 1734, the Keep was in a bad state of repair, with no roof and with most of the floors decayed to the point of being unusable. The only floor in the Keep that was still of good repair was the first, and that was presumably due to it forming the roof over the Keep's county gaol.

Newcastle Keep Prisoners awaiting trial at the Assizes were kept chained to the wall. For 6d, curious townsfolk were allowed to visit the goal and enjoy the spectacle of the prisoner John Howard, the prison reformer, made a general tour of the prisons of Britain. He reported favourably on the conditions in the town’s Newgate goal, and in the House of Correction at Manors, but was disgusted by the conditions at the County goal in the Keep. “Men and women are confined together for 7 or 8 nights…in a dirty damp dungeon…Having no roof, in the wet season the dungeon is some inches deep. The felons are chained to rings on the wall, shown to public like wild beasts vulgar and curious people pay 6d each for admission”.

L.O. - To write a newspaper article based on historical research YOUR TASK Imagine that you were a reporter for the Newcastle Courant in the 18th century. After a recent inspection of the gaol you are horrified by the conditions in which the prisoners are kept and are writing a report to highlight this. Include in your article comments from the inspection report and stress your own personal disgust.