Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Old Bailey in 1814. The Sessions House is on the right with Newg-
ate Prison beyond it. Opposite was St Sepulchre's Church, whose bells
were tolled as prisoners were led to their execution. Next door to the
church was the house of the notorious thief-taker and criminal, Jonath-
an Wild.
A cell door from Newgate Prison, on display in the Museum of London.
Turn left into the Old Bailey, which brings you to the Central Criminal Courts (1907).
This occupies the site of Newgate Prison, another fearsome gaol dating back to the early
Middle Ages. A new prison was built (1770-8) and rebuilt (1780-3) after the Gordon Ri-
ots, with the Sessions House beside it and an area in front for the vast crowds who gathered
for public hangings.
Priscilla Wakefield smugly informs us:
Humanity pointed out the disadvantage of conveying the wretched sufferers so far from their prison to
be put to death; and the use of the gallows [at Tyburn] was laid aside for a new invention, placed on
the outside of the prison at Newgate; for in this happy country no capital punishment can be inflicted
privately.
The area teemed with spectators during executions, and viewpoints at nearby windows
commanded premium prices. In 1807 the crowd was so great that panic set in and twenty-
seven people were killed.
For magistrate Henry Fielding, Newgate was, 'a prototype of hell' and the posies of
flowers that the judges at the Central Criminal Courts still carry on ceremonial occasions
were originally an attempt to ward off the appalling stench of the place.
