Newgate: London's Prototype of Hell - Professor Stephen Halliday

Newgate was the largest, most notorious and worst prison in London. Built during the twelfth century, it came to hold the likes of Dick Turpin, Daniel Defoe and Casanova. The site of great cruelty - only a quarter of prisoners survived until their execution day - it became the inspiration of more poems, plays and novels than any other building in London. This lecture tells the story of Newgate's origins, the criminals it held, the punishments meted out and its rebuilding and reform.