Newgate: London's Prototype of Hell

Halliday, Stephen

ISBN 10: 075093896X / ISBN 13: 9780750938969

Published by Sutton, 2008

About this Item

Seller Inventory # U9780750938969

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Newgate: London's Prototype of Hell
• Publisher: Sutton
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075093896X
• ISBN 13: 9780750938969
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1780312771.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: 11041375
• Signed: 6/1/2026 11:19:31 AM
• Seller catalogs:
  • 2
  • U
  • 9780750938969

About this title

Synopsis

There have been more prisons in London than in any other European city. Of these, Newgate was the largest, most notorious, and worst. Built during the 12th century, it became a legendary place—the inspiration of more poems, plays, and novels than any other building in London. It was a place of cruelty and wretchedness, at various times holding Dick Turpin, Titus Oates, Daniel Defoe, Jack Sheppard, and Casanova. Because prisons were privately run, any time spent in prison had to be paid for by the prisoner. Housing varied from a private cell with a cleaning woman and a visiting prostitute, to simply lying on the floor with no cover. Those who died inside—and only a quarter of prisoners survived until their execution day—had to stay in Newgate as a rotting corpse until relatives found the money for the body to be released. Stephen Halliday tells the story of Newgate's origins, the criminals it held and the punishments meted out. This is a compelling slice of London's social and criminal history.

About the Author

Stephen Halliday is an expert on the history of London and the author of two outstanding works on social history, The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis, and Underground to Everywhere: London's Underground in the Life of the Capital.