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Ancestry UK

Town Gaol, Falmouth, Cornwall

Falmouth Town Gaol was in existence in 1660. It may have occupied a site on Prince or Prince's Street, now the site of Prince Street Gardens, at the top of the High Street. In 1812, James Neild reported:

Here are two rooms, under the back part of the Keeper's house; the largest is 10 feet 8 inches by 9 feet 8, with loose straw on an earthen floor, and each has a small iron-grated window. No Court. No water.

The Keeper was the Town Serjeant. No food was provided but prisoners received an allowance of 6d. a day. The prison fees were 6s. 8d. The prison appears to have been little used — Neild recorded one inmate on his visit in October 1803, and none in Ocrober1 806.

In 1831, a new gaol was erected on the Prince's Street site at a cost of £404. On one floor were apartments for the gaoler and two rooms for prisoners, both having glazed windows and fireplaces. On the floor below were three cells with a yard, and two cells with another yard. The cells were all well ventilated, boarded, roomy, and with glazed windows. One of the serjeants-at-mace acted as gaoler. On an inspection visit in 1835, the only inmates were two juvenile delinquents.

The prison was closed in 1860.

Records

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Bibliography

  • Prison Oracle - resources those involved in present-day UK prisons.
  • GOV.UK - UK Government's information on sentencing, probation and support for families.

Except where indicated, this page () © Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.