Gateway Prison, St Albans
Posted by: 
bill&ben
N 51° 45.060 W 000° 20.649
30U E 683320 N 5736682
For 316 years this former monastery gatehouse was the local prison for St Albans.
Waymark Code: WM7GP9
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/24/2009
Views: 5
The Abbey Gateway is the only building that remains of the extensive monastery buildings of the Abbey of St Albans, apart from the church itself. It is one of the largest monastic gateways still standing in Britain and is now part of St Albans school.
The Gateway was built in 1365 as part of the Abbey of St Albans. In 1381, during the Peasants Revolt, the Gateway was besieged. The third printing press in England is also said to have been here in 1479.
By 1553 the Gateway became the Prison for St Albans and served until 1867 when a purpose built prison was built on Grimston Road, near the station.
In the Gateway Prison, offenders were given bread but there was no heating. Passing strangers often heard a pleading voice from within begging them to put alms into an old shoe, which the prisoners let down by string from a window, to enable them to have a fire. Apparently prisoners could escape from the prison by climbing out of a window and jumping on to a tree.
Open to the public: No
Address: Not listed
Hours: Not listed
Fees?: Not listed
Web link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
In order to add a new log to the waymark of this category, simply take another photo of the prison from a different angle than the other posts. Also add to the history of the jail when possible.