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Newgate, Bristol
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Newgate, Bristol
Newgate in Bristol was one of the four main gates of the medieval town, demolished 1766. The name was also used to refer to the associated 'Newgate Gaol', demolished 1820. Newgate is still used as the name for the road that once ran through the gate.
The earliest reference to Newgate (Novam Portam) is from the early 13th century. When Bristol was made a county in 1373, the 'gate of the same town called Neweyate' was mentioned in the perambulation that defined its boundaries. 'Neweyate' is also mentioned in an undated 14th century town ordinance intended to stop pigs wandering the streets.
In William Worcester's topographical survey of Bristol in 1480 he suggests that the Newgate was a replacement for an old gate that had now been thrown down. He reported that there was 'an extremely deep vault or strong cellar under the gate [of] Newgate'. This was presumably what was described later as 'the pit': an underground dungeon used primarily for condemned prisoners.
Newgate served as the town gaol for felons from at least the fifteenth century. It was where suspects were imprisoned prior to trial at the Guildhall and it was where those convicted of capital offences were imprisoned again prior to execution on the town gallows by Bewell's Cross on St Michael's Hill. The prison included buildings north of the gateway.
In 1461, one of Bristol's former customs officers, John Heysaunt, was charged with plotting the death of Edward IV, who had seized the throne the previous year. Heysaunt was convicted of treason, hanged and beheaded at St Michael's Hill. His head was then 'placed on Bristol’s Newgate, in full view of those travelling to and from the town, to strike terror into the hearts of all those delinquents tempted to resist the new king'. Newgate is depicted on Robert Ricart's 1478 map of the town, labeled 'Porta Nova'.
In 1517 a scandal arose in Bristol when it was discovered that money customarily donated for the relief of the prisoners at Newgate was being embezzled by the jailers. To ensure the prisoners were provided for, the mayor 'purchased a maintenance' (an endowment) to provide them with victuals, firewood and straw. Yet the gaol itself continued to be run as a semi-private enterprise. In 1519, Newgate gaol was 'farmed' (leased as a business) by the corporation to the 'Gaolor of Newgate' for £13 6s. 8d. per year.
When the antiquary John Leland visited Bristol c. 1540 he noted that 'Newgate (as me thinketh) is in the outer wall by the castle, and a chapel over it. It is the prison of the city.'
In the 16th century, Newgate Gaol included a den styled 'Little Ease' as a punishment cell. Prisoners were sometimes released on mass by the monarch as an act of clemency. For example, nine condemned prisoners were released during Elizabeth I's visit to Bristol in 1574.
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Newgate, Bristol
Newgate in Bristol was one of the four main gates of the medieval town, demolished 1766. The name was also used to refer to the associated 'Newgate Gaol', demolished 1820. Newgate is still used as the name for the road that once ran through the gate.
The earliest reference to Newgate (Novam Portam) is from the early 13th century. When Bristol was made a county in 1373, the 'gate of the same town called Neweyate' was mentioned in the perambulation that defined its boundaries. 'Neweyate' is also mentioned in an undated 14th century town ordinance intended to stop pigs wandering the streets.
In William Worcester's topographical survey of Bristol in 1480 he suggests that the Newgate was a replacement for an old gate that had now been thrown down. He reported that there was 'an extremely deep vault or strong cellar under the gate [of] Newgate'. This was presumably what was described later as 'the pit': an underground dungeon used primarily for condemned prisoners.
Newgate served as the town gaol for felons from at least the fifteenth century. It was where suspects were imprisoned prior to trial at the Guildhall and it was where those convicted of capital offences were imprisoned again prior to execution on the town gallows by Bewell's Cross on St Michael's Hill. The prison included buildings north of the gateway.
In 1461, one of Bristol's former customs officers, John Heysaunt, was charged with plotting the death of Edward IV, who had seized the throne the previous year. Heysaunt was convicted of treason, hanged and beheaded at St Michael's Hill. His head was then 'placed on Bristol’s Newgate, in full view of those travelling to and from the town, to strike terror into the hearts of all those delinquents tempted to resist the new king'. Newgate is depicted on Robert Ricart's 1478 map of the town, labeled 'Porta Nova'.
In 1517 a scandal arose in Bristol when it was discovered that money customarily donated for the relief of the prisoners at Newgate was being embezzled by the jailers. To ensure the prisoners were provided for, the mayor 'purchased a maintenance' (an endowment) to provide them with victuals, firewood and straw. Yet the gaol itself continued to be run as a semi-private enterprise. In 1519, Newgate gaol was 'farmed' (leased as a business) by the corporation to the 'Gaolor of Newgate' for £13 6s. 8d. per year.
When the antiquary John Leland visited Bristol c. 1540 he noted that 'Newgate (as me thinketh) is in the outer wall by the castle, and a chapel over it. It is the prison of the city.'
In the 16th century, Newgate Gaol included a den styled 'Little Ease' as a punishment cell. Prisoners were sometimes released on mass by the monarch as an act of clemency. For example, nine condemned prisoners were released during Elizabeth I's visit to Bristol in 1574.
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