Act of Parliament for the building the Bridewell, 1791

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

52298

Title

The Act of Parliament for the building and maintaining of the 'Bridewell and Correction-house, in and for the City and County of Edinburgh', enacted on the 25th November 1790

Description

One Act of Parliament for the building and maintaining of 'Bridewell and Correction-house, in and for the City and County of Edinburgh'. Produced at Westminster on the 25th Day of November 1790, in the 35th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third. Fourteen pages, without a cover, appear to have been removed from a larger book. The terms of the type of building and the way in which it would be run and maintained are set out in forty-eight sections or paragraphs.

Type

Document; Paper

Accession number

HH6402/2004-004

Copyright

The City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries

The Bridewell was Scotland’s first ‘new’ penitentiary where facilities and treatment of prisoners were far removed from those of the dilapidated and overcrowded old Tolbooth. This new model prison put prisoners to work in activities such as spinning and weaving, and the sale of this work helped to pay for the prison. The Bridewell and its surrounding site were remodelled and extended throughout the 19th century, becoming part of the Calton Jail facility until the site closed in 1927 and all the buildings, except the Calton Jail Governor’s House, were demolished in 1935 to make way for the construction of St Andrew’s House.

Overcrowding in prisons has always been a problem. Throughout the 1780s early attempts were made to design a new facility. Plans were approved on the 25th of November 1790, with this Act of Parliament laying out the terms of the type of building and the way in which it would be run and maintained.

The prolific Scottish architect Robert Adam was appointed as the designer of the new gaol and bridewell. He presented several elaborate plans for the site including a design to build a bridge linking the Old and New Towns of the City but eventually a less ambitious plan was accepted, and a site was selected on Calton Hill for its construction.

No doubt economic factors played a significant part in the selection of his pared down design and although the 1790 Act of Parliament set out plans to build a Bridewell, a house of correction and a prison, only the Bridewell was constructed.

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