Newgate

Newgate, a celebrated London prison, stands at the western extremity of Newgate Street, opposite the Old Bailey. The exterior presents high dark stone walls, without windows. It was long the chief criminal prison of city and county, but is no longer used for prisoners to be tried at the Central Court, and is in the hands of the Court of Aldermen. The earliest prison here was in the portal of the new gate of the city as early as 1218; and hence the name. About two centuries afterwards it was rebuilt by the executors of Sir Richard Whittington, whose statue with a cat stood in a niche, till its destruction by the great fire of London in 1666. The present edifice was erected in 1780, but the new buildings were greatly damaged by fire in the Gordon Riots of that year (see Boswell's Johnson under that date), when 300 prisoners, felons as well as debtors, were released and let loose upon the public. This awful scene is described by Dickens in Barnaby Rudge. After the passing of the Prisons Bill in 1877 Newgate, being considered a very costly and redundant establishment, was gradually disused, and is now, except during sessions or when the gallows is in requisition, practically closed. The Newgate Calendar contains biographical notices of the most notorious murderers, burglars, thieves, and forgers who have been confined within its walls. See Griffiths, Chronicles of Newgate (1884).