A.D. A.D. 1669 George Frisney, 1749 John Clarkson, Clerk,* 1078 Francis Fern, M. A. | 1766 Richard Oswin, Clerk, 1690 Thomas Johnson, M.A. 1796 Martin Coulcher, Clerk,+ 1803 Jeremiah Jackson,M.A. of St. John's College, Cambridge, 1697 Thomas Carter, Fellow of King's College, 1727 John Newson, Clerk, THE GAOL. Miy dale Hall, Oxford Whilst the ancient castle was kept up as a fortress, some part thereof within the walls was allotted for the use of a prison; and it is shewn that assizes were held in the mote hall, and the governor of the castle was answerable for the safety of the prisoners committed to the gaol there. Sir Andrew Ogard, in 1452, and Sir James Hobard, in 1494, were each fined £5. for the escape of felons. A further proof also of the antiquity of a prison's having been maintained in this town is, that the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Ely, the lord of the franchise, in his appointment of " the chief bailiff "for the isle of Ely," grants to the chief bailiff two several patents, for the custody not only of the gaol of the said bishop, in the city of Ely, within his barton there, but also of the prison and gaol of Wisbech, and the prisoners there imprisoned, and to be thereafter imprisoned, &c. which form has been used and continued for time immemorial. Upon dismantling the castle, The father of Thomas Clarkson, esq. before mentioned. On the election of this gentleman, there was an equality of votes, when the capital burgesses drew lots, which was done by the clerk. The gaoler's stipend then was 1s. 6d. per week. 5 23 5 38 71 it is probable the prison fell into decay, and as a gaol was * At fifteen shillings and eight pence per thousand. By this it appears that the isle of Ely paid the rent, although the corporation provided the convenience. A.D. by the capital burgesses, relative to the house of cor1757. rection, is in the year 1757, when at a full hall, an inquiry was ordered to be instituted into the right of the burgesses to the gaol, and that after examining all evidences, they should lay the same before the magistrates of the hundred of Wisbech and the north part of Witchford, in order to prove the burgesses' right to the same, and the town bailiff was ordered to call in such assistance as he should think proper. The issue, however, is (as in various other cases) omitted to be stated, though it is probable the burgesses could not establish any such right. A building, used as a house of correction, had for a considerable length of time been continued under the direction of the magistrates of the hundred of Wisbech and north part of Witchford, which becoming in a very ruinous state, and unfit for the safe custody of prisoners, the magistrates for the 1807. isle resolved to take down the same, in the year 1807, and a new one was erected on the old site, taking in, by way of addition, a portion of ground contiguous, whereon four almshouses, called "Sturmyn's," formerly stood,* on the south side of the great river, and the expense of rebuilding was defrayed out of the county rates for the isle. This building is well calculated to answer the purposes for which it was designed. It contains six wards for female prisoners, and eleven for males, besides two for debtors. It has a chapel, to which a chaplain, with a salary of £50. per annum, is appointed by the magistrates, where divine service is performed every sunday. There is a good yard for airing the prisoners, with a rain water cistern, pump, &c. The most recent alteration in this prison is the erection See title Almshouses,' Mr. Sturmyn's. of a tread mill, affording at once to the prisoners both labour and punishment. This machine is capable of employing eleven men at a time, with an adjoining corn mill and bakehouse, and a small store house or granary above. The men only are employed on the tread wheel, and the changes of relays take place at the ringing of a bell, at intervals of not less than ten or fifteen minutes. The present diet is bread and water, with the occasional indulgence of a little animal food supplied by the friends of the prisoners. The cost of the mill in its building and machinery was £600. The force is employed to grind corn for the public. Samuel Craddock is at this time the very respectable keeper of the house of correction. THE SHIRE HALL, erected in the year 1807, is situated on the south brink of the river, to which the house of correction last described is annexed. The exterior does not manifest much taste, though a considerable sum of money was expended thereon; but the hall itself is allowed to be very convenient for the transaction of business, and by a passage from the prison communicating with the court, the unfortunate objects, who are to appear before that tribunal, are brought forward without being unnecessarily exposed to the gaze of the public. The old shire hall, which was taken down in 1810, stood at the upper or eastern end of the new market place. THE MARKET PLACE is on the south side of the river, in the form of a parallelogram, open and spacious,-in width about ninetyfour feet, and in length three hundred and eighty feet, paved with Yorkshire slabs in rows, intermixed with large cobbles, so that on the market day, when the stalls are set up upon that part which is paved with cobbles, the portion, composed of slabs, (about three hundred and ten feet in length and thirty-seven in width) becomes reserved as an open space for all whose business leads them to the market, affording a convenient paved walk to view the several articles exposed on each side for sale. The whole was completed in the year 1811, at the expense of £1,170.; £300. of which was paid by the consent of the inhabitants out of the highway rates, and the rest by the corporation. The market day is Saturday. There is another open space on the north side of the river, called the Old Market, which, if ever used as a general market place, was deserted at a very early period. In the latter place, used formerly to be a pond, which is known to have continued until about 1669, when it was ordered to be cleaned out, and in the course of the following ten years, the same was directed to be filled, and a pump was set down, which appears by the corporation records to have taken place on the 2d March 1679. Towns, we know, were always the dependants of castles; and in early troublesome times, people were glad to seek protection under the walls of a fortress, and it is not improbable, that for the sake of The market day of the ancient Britons was Wednesday, from its dedication to Mercury; but the Anglo-Saxons kept their markets on a Sunday, (as is even now the custom in the Roman catholic countries) to give the people an opportunity of assembling to perform their religious duties, and to purchase the necessaries of life. The prejudicial effects of this mixture of religious with secular affairs soon produced a law, forfeiting all goods exposed to sale on that day, and appointing Saturday for that purpose. Fairs and markets used formerly to be kept in church yards, which practice was forbidden by statute 13th Edward I. c. vi. a. D. 1294. |