Prison conditions 4
The state of a county gaol, 1774
There are many reports of the bad state of repair of the county gaols among the records of the Quarter Sessions. The example below shows extracts from a report on the condition of the county gaol in Montgomery in 1774.
This survey, made by one Thomas Pritchard, 'an experienced Architect', led to the demand for sixty pounds to be provided by the inhabitants of the county to pay for repairs to the gaol.
Montgomeryshire
Quarter Sessions
Easter 1774
Powys
County Archives
M/QS/R
The extracts shown here, from the Session Rolls of
the Montgomeryshire Quarter Sessions of 1774, reads as follows:
"26 Mar 1774
On a Survey of the County Goal [Gaol] at Montgomery
The Two Dungeons which are Small Rooms, only eight feet by seven,
have the Floor quite Rotten on Account of the water gushing thro
the Bath Wall under the Timbers. There is no ceiling, only a
naked floor over them which is very unsafe. The Back walls are
extreamly damp and unwholesome by reason of the Earth lying against
them."
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