Perimeter walls of Beaumaris Gaol

Cadw's description

Location

Occupying the block defined by Steeple Lane, Bunkers Hill, Gaol Street, and a narrow alley at the S end.

History

Beaumaris Gaol and House of Correction was built in 1829 by Joseph Hansom and Edward Welch, architects of York. The perimeter wall was an integral part of the original prison building. It had a high-level doorway from which public hangings took place. Two men were hanged there during the life of the prison, which closed in 1878. It has been a museum since 1975.

Exterior

The perimeter of the gaol is composed of coursed freestone walls approximately 15m high and 55m by 32m, with freestone coping and a slight batter at the base. Each side has shallow buttresses rising to three-quarter height, and clasped at the angles. The main entrance, to Bunkers Hill on the N side, is between splayed sections of the perimeter wall that abut the main prison building. It has 4 lower freestone piers with central double iron gates, and flanking bays with railings on dwarf walls.

On the S side the wall rises higher, in 2 steps, to accommodate the extension to the S wing made in 1867. Subsequently a doorway, in a concrete surround, was inserted in the wall at this point, with boarded door. On the E side is a wider buttress to the R of centre, at the top of which is a studded door, over which the gallows was fixed. On the inner side of the wall at this point is a bell surmounted by a wooden cross.

The inner side of the wall is pebble-dashed, except the SW quadrant where the original stone is exposed.

Reason for designation

Listed grade I for its special interest as a virtually unaltered early C19 prison perimeter wall from where public executions took place, and as an integral component of an exceptionally well-preserved prison of national importance.