BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON 



great chamber in the castle in 1235,' the King's 

 chapel in 1 244,' the building of the Queen's chapel 

 in 1247,* fitted with glass wndows in 1 248,' the 

 King's wardrobe, the great hall and the chaplain's 

 room in 1249,** the wall of the castle and the bailey 

 next the river in 1251,^ further alterations to the 

 chapel in the tower, and stained glass windows in 

 the hall in 1252 and 1253.** A survey of 1253 refers 

 to repairs already carried out on the great wall, but 

 says that it needs further repairs.*' In 1318 the great 

 hall, the lower chapel and two otiier larger chambers 

 were destroyed by fire. The sur\ey of the castle 

 in 1323, which reports this, mentions the ' new tower,' 

 six small towers in the circuit of the castle wall, 

 two stables, a new gate, two old gates, an old bar- 

 bican, the miinullum of the castle, the hall court, the 

 castle court and the g,\rdcn. The repairs said to be 

 necessary are estimated at 7^1,097 6s. 8(f.'* It does 

 not seem probable that they were ever carried out ; 

 but the great hall, as we have seen, was made fit for 

 the holding of the eyre of 1329-30, and the castle 

 continued to be used both for royal and shrieval 

 purposes. During the parliament of 1380, however, 

 the king stayed at Moulton, and not at the castle,'* 

 and St. Andrew's Priory was used for the sessions.'* 

 Repairs mentioned in 1347" and 1387'* suggest 

 that the castle was being used mainly as a county 

 gaol and sheriff's office — a checker house and a checker 

 board are named. When Leland saw the castle it still 

 had a large gate," but in 1593 Norden described it as 

 ruinous. It was probably repaired for the use of the 

 Parliamentary garrison, and the drawing of 1650 

 shows a wall round both the inner and the outer 

 bailey, and four turrets in the wall of the inner bailey. 

 Soon after the castle ceased, about 1671, to be used as 

 gaol and sessions house, the site which had been ori- 

 ginally sold by the crown in 1629*" was resold to 

 Robert Hesilrige, who acquired the adjoining strips 

 of land from the borough in 1680." A survey of the 

 property in 1743 shows that the outer bailey was then 

 known as the old orchard, and the inner bailey as the 

 young orchard, both being well planted with fruit 

 trees ; the moat was called the upper and nether 

 roundabout ; the northern rampart, called the Fort 

 in 1680, was known as the Castle Ground, and the 

 whole, including the Castle holme, came to 18 acres. 

 No traces existed, apparently of the wall of the outer 

 bailey. The castle ground was built over between 1863 

 and 1880 ; in 1 859 a small railway station was built 

 on part of the old orchard, and in 1876, for the purpose 

 of building the present Castle Station and goods 

 yard, the rest of the site was bought by the London and 

 North-Western Railway Company, and the remains 

 of the masonry, including a circular bastion on tlie 

 south, and a sohd fragment of the wall on the river 



side, Norman at the core, reinforced with Edwardian 

 facing and buttresses, were destroyed. The course of 

 the Nene was diverted, the greater part of the earth- 

 works levelled, and a new road cut across the levelled 

 castle site joining Black Lion Hill to St. Andrew's 

 Road. A postern from the wall above the river was 

 re-erected in the southern boundary wall of the goods 

 station, and this is all that now remains of the castle 

 buildings.^ 



Whilst prisoners were still kept at the castle in 

 1655,^' as early as 1630 ** a house of correction for the 

 county had been set up in the town, under the control 

 (if the county justices. This was in or near the old 

 Dell Inn,^ across the road from the south-east corner 

 of All Saints' Churchyard, and it served as a county 

 gaol, supplementary to that in the castle. Here pro- 

 b.ibly the Quakers were confined, between 1655 and 

 1664**, who issued various tracts from their prison, 

 and died, several of them, of their hard usage." It 

 was formally conveyed to the use of the county in 

 1670, as a gaol and bridewell.^^ The buildings were 

 destroyed by the fire of 1675, and on the same site, 

 as it seems, the present County Hall was erected 

 between 1676 and 1678 from the designs of Sir 

 Roger Norwich, by H. G. Jones, who rebuilt All 

 Saints' Church.*' The County House of Correction 

 was at the same time rebuilt behind the Sessions 

 House, and a house built by Sir William Haselwood 

 on a piece of land to the west was used as a gaol 

 and bought by the county in 1691.*' Then, and for 

 many years later, the county gaol looked south across 

 Angel Street to the open country with no houses 

 intetyfening. In 1777, when Howard visited it, some 

 new cells had been built, but there was still an under- 

 ground dungeon like that in which the Quakers had 

 suffered.'* In 1792-4 a new gaol and bridewell were 

 erected to the south of the County Hall, and the old 

 gaol was made into the turnkey's house. The new 

 gaol was built so as to conform with Howard's recom- 

 mendations and held 120 prisoners. This in its 

 turn was found inadequate by rising standards, and an 

 addition to the gaol was built to the east and south of 

 the old site in 1846 by J. iMilne.^ This latest gaol, 

 built for 140 prisoners, served the county till 1889, 

 \\hen, all prisons having been vested in the Secretary 

 of State by the Act of 1877,^ it ceased to be used, 

 and the former borough g.iol became the only prison 

 in the town. The old county gaol wa's sold to Mr. 

 J. Watkins in 1880, who sold the portion now used 

 as the museum and art gallery to the Town Council. 

 The remainder of the property was bought by the 

 Salvation Army in 1889 and purchased from them by 

 the County Council in 1914. The Salvation Army 

 remained in occupation as tenants till early in 1928. 

 The building is new being reconstructed to serve as 



'Cal. Close 1234-7, p. 138. 

 ' Ibid. 1242-7, p. 195. 



• Ibid. p. 522. 



• Liberate R. 33 Hen. Ill, in. II. 

 '• Liberate R. 33 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 

 " Cal. Close, 1247-51, p. 510. 



'• Liberate R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. 15 ; 37 

 Hen. Ill, m. 1 1. 



'• Printed in full, Hartshome, ^^em. of 

 NoTibamfl., pp. 136-7. 



" Chan. Misc. Inq. 16 Edw. II, 89/15. 



" Hartihome, Mem.of NorlbampI, 164. 



" Part. R. iii, 89-90. 



" Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 196. 



>' Enrolled Accounts (Foreign), 13 Ric. 

 II, Roll E, m. 38 d. 



" llinerary, i, 9. 



'" Scr']cinUon,Castle oj Norlbampt. p. 45. 



" NorthampuCorp. Deeds, Press C. 109. 



" Photographs of the remains before 

 demolition are preserved in Northampt. 

 Public Library, and several are reproduced 

 in Scrieantson, Castle of Northampt. 



" Quarter Sessions Records {NortbanU. 

 Rec. See), vol. i, 194. 



"Ibid. p. 55. 



=' C. A. Markham, Hist, of the County 

 Buildings of Nortbampt. (1885), pp. 5-8. 



35 



" Ibid. pp. 3-4. 



" Ibid. pp. 53-5. List of Tracts 

 written in Northampton gaol. See also 

 Quarter Sessions Records, i, 191 ; Brief 

 .■hiount of the Sufferings of the People called 

 Quakers. 



*' See Quarter Sessions Files — Acts of 

 Court. Epiphany, 21 Charles II. 



•'Markham, op. cit. p. 42. 



"Ibid. p. II. 



" Howard, State of the Prisons in Eng- 

 land and If ahs, 1777. 



"Marliham, op. cit. pp. ic-24. 



"40 and 41 Vict. c. 21. 



