HODS 23 Berwick Gaol

Visit one of Berwick’s hidden gems and find out how prisoners were accommodated from the mid 1700s to 1849. See the condemned cell which housed prisoners the night before they were executed.
There has been a Town Hall on this site for many centuries. The present building was constructed in the 1750s and 1760s by the Guild of Freemen to act as the seat of local government in Berwick and administer law and order. The prison was constructed at this time to house both criminals, drunks and debtors. It remained in use until 1849 when the prisoners were transferred to the new Prison in Wallace Green. By this time, the prison in the Town Hall was considered unsuitable because prisoners did not have individual cells.