The House of Correction – Belfast’s terrifying city centre prison
A Prison on Howard Street
The town of Belfast grew up along the banks of the Farset on the low-lying peninsular between the Farset and Blackstaff rivers as they reach the River Lagan at Belfast Lough. The focus was based on High Street, under which the Farset still flows, and Castle Place, the site of Belfast’s first castle.
The land to the south of today’s City Hall (previously the White Linen Hall) was mostly undeveloped until the early 19th century – the ideal place for a House of Correction.
In 1815 advertisements appear in the local newspapers seeking tenders from builders for the construction of a prison on Howard Street, at that time still a part of May Street. The area at the time was mostly fields with the Blackstaff meandering through it on its way to the sea.
“It may be worth noticing that the course of the river between this point and the Dublin Bridge at Bedford Street has been considerably altered. It had more windings then. One bend that seems entirely effaced brought it close under the rere wall of the old ‘House of Correction’ in Howard Street”
Thomas Gaffikin, Belfast Fifty Years Ago, 1875
The plans were approved by the Grand Jury the same year, at a cost of £9,000.
Although opinions differ as to the exact date, it is likely the new prison opened in 1817 on the site of todays Howard Street, opposite the Presbyterian Assembly Buildings near the corner onto Great Victoria Street.
Other Prisons
Carrickfergus County Jail
Previously to this, and for all serious crimes, prisoners were incarcerated in the jail at Carrickfergus. This was a very old establishment built on the site of a former Franciscan monastery on the corner of Castle Street and Market Place.
Men, women and children were housed together in cramped overcrowded cells. There was no running water so conditions were highly unsanitary to say the least, and lice and infectious diseases were rampant.
A stay here was often a death sentence.
“Prisoners charged with serious offences were sent to the County Jail at Carrickfergus; and the Judges passing through Belfast twice in the year, with the trumpeters and a military escort, caused a sensational awe amongst the crowds assembled, as Allen McQuilkin, the hangman, was frequently employed after the Assizes”
Thomas Gaffikin, Belfast Fifty Years Ago, 1875
The site of executions was about a mile from Carrickfergus at the shoreline on the approach to the town from Belfast. Surprisingly, to modern sensibilities, these events were almost considered as ‘a day out’ and attracted excited onlookers.
“He was conveyed to the place of execution, which was at that period about a mile from Carrickfergus, attended by an immense concourse of spectators. So great was the crowd, as was the custom at the time, that though the distance was so short, it required an hour to reach it. The apparatus then consisted of three tall columns, with a cross-beam, to which the rope was attached. They stood on the bare sea-shore, and were familiarly known by the name of the Three Sisters”
George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast Vol 2, 1880
However, in the troubled times of the late 18th century, not every execution was regarded as ‘public entertainment’ (see post William Orr – Trial and Execution 1797).
It is said that in subsequent times, builders in this area of Carrickfergus frequently found human bones, as the corpses were left to rot and disintegrate where they were hung.
The Donegall Arms Hotel / Prison
In times of disturbance, other buildings were commandeered to hold prisoners, for example, during the Rebellion of 1798, the Donegall Arms Hotel on Castle Place was converted into a make-shift prison (see post Castle Place – the Inn, the Jailhouse & Robb’s Stores).
“…after which we were detained, in this loathsome abode, until about two o’clock in the afternoon, when we were remove to the Donegall Arms, then the Provost prison”
William Steel Dickson, A Narrative of Confinement and Exile, 1812
Cooney’s Court Barracks
United Irishman, Henry Joy McCracken, with others, was detained in the old military barracks in Cooney’s Court off Ann Street (see post Belfast’s Forgotten Streets and Corners). Prison ships such as the William and Mary, on Belfast Lough, would also be utilised, though these held what we would term today ‘political’ prisoners.
“On reaching the quay, we found boats in waiting, embarked safely, and soon reached our floating Bastile”.
William Steel Dickson, A Narrative of Confinement and Exile, 1812
Life within the House of Correction
The House of Correction was designed to look forbidding. At a time when most folk were illiterate, image mattered.
The prison measured 236ft long and extended 230 ft to the rear. The gloomy edifice reflected its purpose, labelled by architectural historian C E B Brett “a mysterious Piranesian building”. It was composed of dark brick and enclosed in a high stone wall. An inscription above the gateway read
‘Within Amend, Without Beware’
The numerous cells were in two wings, the left for female prisoners and the right for men.
In 1819 there were 74 inmates. Prisoners were given a rudimentary education in reading and writing and religious studies. There was also a chapel, so designed that the men and women could not see each other.
The daily regime in the prison was strict and unforgiving. Inmates were kept busy. Those who had a trade were supplied with the equipment to work.
Others were engaged in spinning, chopping wood, breaking stones or picking oakum. Oakum-picking was a laborious and tedious job. Inmates were given baskets of old, dirty ‘junk’ rope and had to tease out the fibres. Often, they had to reach a daily quota.
The task was very hard on the hands usually leaving fingers blistered and bleeding. The loose fibres were then sold to shipbuilders, mixed with tar and used to line or caulk boats.
Prisoners were paid a minimum wage for their endeavours, but out of this came the cost of their food, bedding and clothing while incarcerated.
A stay in the House of Correction was designed to be a real deterrent to repeat criminal behaviour.
“The discipline of this prison is so strict and correct that its influence has been most salutary on the conduct of the disorderly in this town and neighbourhood”
George Benn, A History of the Town of Belfast, 1823
“Professional Beggars”
Those apprehended as ‘professional beggars’ or ‘strolling vagrants’ were also housed in the House of Correction.
Only the poorest who were registered in the parish of Belfast, and were badged, were permitted to beg on the city streets (see post The Rise and Fall of the ‘House of Industry’).
A first offence meant a prison sentence of up to two calendar months, second offence 4 months and third offence 12 months.
“….to apprehend all Beggars & strolling Vagrants and Prostitutes (excepting such beggars as shall be badged & licensed to beg by the Belfast Charitable Society) found on the streets of Belfast and within one mile thereof of the Lamps in all directions, & to commit them to the House of Correction, or to said other place or places of confinement”
Belfast Charitable Society Minutes 26th April 1817
The “Jail Crop”
The prison complex also held a house for the prison governor or Keeper.
The first governor appointed to the town’s House of Correction was Captain Thomas Henry. This prompted one Belfast wag (of whom there were plenty) to add his own saying to the prison’s admonishing inscription
‘Within Amend, Without Beware
Or Capt Henry will Cut Your Hair!’
This referred to inmates having their heads shaved on entering the prison, the ‘jail crop’.
“What the writer of the couplet meant to express was, we imagine, the fact that if you had the misfortune to pass through that gentleman’s hands at all it meant having your hair cut in anything but a becoming fashion”
Cathal O’ Byrne, As I Roved Out, 1946
Prison Administration
A committee of ‘gentlemen’ met every Monday in one of the prisons administrative rooms “for the inspection of prison discipline and are found of inestimable use in promoting the morals of industry of the inmates” (Belfast Street Directory 1819).
This Belfast institution seems to have enjoyed a positive reputation. An inspection of the prison in the early 19th century elicited this praise from one of the inspectors
“I doubt not but this house of correction would be an example to the whole kingdom”
Belfast Newsletter 24th March 1829
The amenities of the House of Correction were also used as a court. The spacious hall was utilised for the Quarter Sessions for the sovereign’s (Lord Mayor) and the seneschal hearings.
The Naming of Howard Street
It is thought the thoroughfare on which the House of Correction stood was renamed Howard Street after the notable prison reformer John Howard. The street name first appears in the directories in the mid 1830’s.
John Howard (1726-1790), using his own money, visited prisons throughout Europe and highlighted the appalling conditions suffered by prisoners. He was co-author of the Penitentiary Act of 1779 that introduced state-run jails in the United Kingdom, improved conditions and facilities in prisons and the rehabilitation of offenders.
One Escapee
While the House of Correction was certainly a formidable building it was not 100% secure, as the escape of Hugh McIlroy shows…
Sadly, from Hugh’s point of view, he was back in prison by August as recorded in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle…
Decline of the House of Correction
In the 1840’s the House of Correction was partially demolished with the opening of the much larger prison on the Crumlin Road in 1845. The old House of Correction building was used as a soup kitchen during the Famine.
However, the remaining building continued to act as a courthouse for Petty Sessions until the turn of the century.
“Turning right, through Howard-street, we pass the old House of Correction, now used for the meetings of the police court….”
John Henderson, Belfast and its Environs, 1855
Even for a place dedicated to deciding on guilt or innocence and dolling out the appropriate sentence, the court of the House of Correction seems to have had a fearsome reputation.
“The ‘House of Correction’ in later times was presided over by two Resident Magistrates, named respectively O’Donnell and Orme – two magistrates whose names struck terror to the hearts of all evil-doers, and who were rarely if ever, known to temper justice with mercy”
Cathal O’Byrne; As I Roved Out; 1946
The last remnants of the House of Correction were finally demolished in 1901, though the building and the neighbourhood seem to have been rather ‘run down’ before that
“Here, in ‘a low-ceiled, brick-floored, grimy-looking apartment, with a sort of magnified counter at one end’ entered through a large yard ‘ever and always luxuriant with a rank crop of graveyard-like grass, broken bottles, dismantled oyster shells, and other disjecta membra, kindly supplied by passing or resident youngsters’, ‘the sacred impersonations of justice’ were dispensed”
Marcus Patton, Central Belfast,: A Historical Gazetteer, 1993
It seems that littering isn’t just a modern problem!
The New Courthouse
The impressive new courthouse opened in the north of the town in 1850. It was designed in the Neoclassical style by the famous Belfast architect Charles Lanyon (see post – Crumlin Road Courthouse, Heritage for sale £1).
By the turn of the 20th century, the House of Correction on Howard Street, was no more.
The site became the warehouse for John Fulton & Co and some years later the Presbyterian War Memorial Building. This is a 7-storey red-brick construction designed by the Belfast architects Young and Mackenzie. The lettering is still just about visible.
Today it is another unremarkable city block of shops and restaurants. How amazing that so much history has been overlaid and forgotten on our city streets!
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