Post by lozwinter on Apr 10, 2005 9:24:46 GMT
The City of Derby is the "Ghost Capital of England",
In 1588 John Baxter of Kirk Langley was appointed gaoler of Derby's first County Gaol. The gaol was located in the Cornmarket over a brook, which was in actual fact the town sewer. Occasionally the brook would overflow and drown prisoners in the gaol. Drowning wasn't the only concern that the inmates may have had. Gaol fever took at least 34 lives from 1630 onwards. Amongst those victims were Anthony Fitzherbert and Humphrey Beresford, both of whom had been held in the name of religion with over thirty other fellow Catholics.
In July 1588, Nicholas Garlick, Robert Ludlam and Richard Simpson, all Catholic priests, were hanged, drawn and quartered. Their remains were hung from St. Mary's Bridge. The apalling conditions and lack of food or care led to other horror stories include that of a prisoner who cut his own throat in the gaol and was buried somewhere in Green Lane.
Scandal about the appalling conditions and corruption surrounded the gaol until a new gaol was built in 1756 in Friargate. This was used as a prison from 1756 to 1828. The basement of 50/51 Friar Gate is now a working museum.
Derby's third and final County Gaol was opened in South Street in 1827.
It’s gory history includes shootings, such as in October 1831 when the Reform Riots started in Derby. When rioters marched on the South Street Gaol and demanded other inmates be freed, the governor of the gaol ordered armed guards to fire on the crowd. Seventeen-year-old John Garner died the next day of gunshot wounds, though he was not believed to have been part of the crowd.
The gaol was famous for its public executions until 1862.
Until 1862 executions were a big crowd-puller attracting as many as 50,000 people for the execution of Samuel Bonsall, William Bland and John Hulme in 1843, for murdering Miss Martha Goddard.
The last public execution in Derby was in 1862 on April 11th. The victim was 26 year-old man called Richard Thorley. He had been accused of murdering Eliza Morrow.
After 1862 twelve more executions took place inside Derby. The very last execution was that of William Edward Slack on July 16th, 1907 who was hanged for the murder of his mistress, Mrs Wilson.
Other brutal execution methods employed in Derby include burnings at the stake and ‘peine forte et dure” which means pressing to death. This was a ploy to make the accused plead guilty before dying and therefore giving up his or her right to his land.
The last occurance of ‘pressing to death’ in England happened in Derby in 1665 when a deaf and mute woman was executed. How could she possibly reply?
The prison closed as a civilian institution in 1916 and was used by the army authorities until 1928.
Since 1928 the site of the gaol, with its facade has been a nightclub, a greyhound track, a BMX track and now is the home of offices and flats. Would you live there?
What happened when Most Haunted visited??
Jason sets a trigger trap of a wooden cross on a piece of paper in a reputedly haunted cell, which gives incredible results.
Huddled in a cell later during a vigil, the whole crew smell roses although nobody knows where it's coming from...
Filming later reveals the presence of orbs in the very same cell...
While inside the cell Yvette breaks down in tears for no apparent reason...
In 1588 John Baxter of Kirk Langley was appointed gaoler of Derby's first County Gaol. The gaol was located in the Cornmarket over a brook, which was in actual fact the town sewer. Occasionally the brook would overflow and drown prisoners in the gaol. Drowning wasn't the only concern that the inmates may have had. Gaol fever took at least 34 lives from 1630 onwards. Amongst those victims were Anthony Fitzherbert and Humphrey Beresford, both of whom had been held in the name of religion with over thirty other fellow Catholics.
In July 1588, Nicholas Garlick, Robert Ludlam and Richard Simpson, all Catholic priests, were hanged, drawn and quartered. Their remains were hung from St. Mary's Bridge. The apalling conditions and lack of food or care led to other horror stories include that of a prisoner who cut his own throat in the gaol and was buried somewhere in Green Lane.
Scandal about the appalling conditions and corruption surrounded the gaol until a new gaol was built in 1756 in Friargate. This was used as a prison from 1756 to 1828. The basement of 50/51 Friar Gate is now a working museum.
Derby's third and final County Gaol was opened in South Street in 1827.
It’s gory history includes shootings, such as in October 1831 when the Reform Riots started in Derby. When rioters marched on the South Street Gaol and demanded other inmates be freed, the governor of the gaol ordered armed guards to fire on the crowd. Seventeen-year-old John Garner died the next day of gunshot wounds, though he was not believed to have been part of the crowd.
The gaol was famous for its public executions until 1862.
Until 1862 executions were a big crowd-puller attracting as many as 50,000 people for the execution of Samuel Bonsall, William Bland and John Hulme in 1843, for murdering Miss Martha Goddard.
The last public execution in Derby was in 1862 on April 11th. The victim was 26 year-old man called Richard Thorley. He had been accused of murdering Eliza Morrow.
After 1862 twelve more executions took place inside Derby. The very last execution was that of William Edward Slack on July 16th, 1907 who was hanged for the murder of his mistress, Mrs Wilson.
Other brutal execution methods employed in Derby include burnings at the stake and ‘peine forte et dure” which means pressing to death. This was a ploy to make the accused plead guilty before dying and therefore giving up his or her right to his land.
The last occurance of ‘pressing to death’ in England happened in Derby in 1665 when a deaf and mute woman was executed. How could she possibly reply?
The prison closed as a civilian institution in 1916 and was used by the army authorities until 1928.
Since 1928 the site of the gaol, with its facade has been a nightclub, a greyhound track, a BMX track and now is the home of offices and flats. Would you live there?
What happened when Most Haunted visited??
Jason sets a trigger trap of a wooden cross on a piece of paper in a reputedly haunted cell, which gives incredible results.
Huddled in a cell later during a vigil, the whole crew smell roses although nobody knows where it's coming from...
Filming later reveals the presence of orbs in the very same cell...
While inside the cell Yvette breaks down in tears for no apparent reason...