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During your Guide Tour, an expert guide who will shine a light on what life was really like for prisoners, officers and visitors. This no-holds-barred tour will bring this historic and captivating building to life.
You’ll be greeted by one of our Tour Guides with encyclopaedic knowledge of the prison’s rich history. During your 1.5 hour tour, you’ll explore every corner of this fascinating prison and hear the real life tales that will leave you intrigued and shocked. You’ll wander the landing just as officers did for 400 years and discover what it was like to be locked behind the steel doors!
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Explore 2 traditional Victorian Prison wings. B Wing, the largest wing, had the capacity to hold 94 prisoners as of 2001 but experienced much overcrowding in the years before. C Wing was purpose built in 1848 to hold women and children into the early 1900s but played an important and top secret role during WWII.
Next, you’ll head to the Hard Labour Yard to learn about the hard and often pointless forms of hard labour implemented during the 1800s to keep prisoners from idleness. Here, you’ll see The Tread Wheel Building, one of the most physically demanding forms of Victorian Hard Labour.
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Some of the oldest parts of the prison can be found in and around the old Gate Lodge and Governor’s Office. From the 1600s until the 1990s, this side of the prison was the main entrance and has seen much development over the centuries. Walk the large exercise yard, overlooked by 3 wings and the old Governor’s House.
An example of one of the original cells has recently been uncovered and can be explored in this area (as long as you don’t mind getting on your hands and knees).
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Follow in the footsteps of the many men who made their way from the condemned cell to the execution room. The condemned man’s cell was where the prisoner would spend his last days prior to execution.
A total of 25 men were executed within the grounds of the prison between 1889 to 1945, most taking place within this room and often under the supervision of Albert Pierrepoint. Learn about their crimes as well as some of the controversies surrounding their convictions. You can even visit the final resting place of 7 of the executed men and the site of 2 military firing squad executions.
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