H M Prison Dartmoor: former Petty Officer's Block, now Chapel, Primary Care Unit and Segregation Unit, Princetown, Devon

Summary

Former Petty Officer’s Block built in 1806-9 for Dartmoor Prisoners of War Prison, converted in c1850 into an infirmary incorporating a chapel, altered and extended between 1909 and 1912. The interior of the Chapel was remodelled in c1950.

Description

MATERIALS: granite stone rubble, with the early C20 parts in granite ashlar. Pitched roof now covered in metal retaining its tall ventilation towers to the gable ends.

PLAN: originally a U-shaped plan, since the early C20 forming a double L-shaped plan, with the chapel forming the wing at its far north-west end and the primary care and segregation units attached to its south-east end.

EXTERIOR: the chapel, forming the far north-west wing of the building, is entered via a small porch (added in the late C20) at its west end, flanked by a later inserted casement window. The nave of the chapel has an arcaded basement, now blocked, and is lit by tall rectangular multi-pane church windows. Attached to its north-east corner is the former fire station (added in 1927). It has round arched fire engine doors at ground floor level (recently restored), with at first floor level later windows replacing former multi-pane sashes using original openings. It abuts the east end of the chapel which has two round arches at basement level, and a tall rectangular tri-partite choir window above. The central block (from c1850 the hospital ward) extends from the south-west corner of the chapel wing, and has rows of identical square-shaped cell windows to its west elevation, whilst the east elevation has an arcaded basement with two rows of narrow, rectangular cell windows above. To the centre is a tall, three-storey projecting ablution tower, added between 1909-1912. At its south end the central block is attached to a large three storey L-shaped wing, now incorporating the Primary Care and Segregation Units. Though some of the arcaded basement appears to have survived, the south-east wing of the former petty officers block appears to date mostly from 1909-1912 when it was also extended, characterised by rows of tall prison sashes. Its gabled entrance at the west end of the wing carries the date stone 1912 and is set above an entrance lobby, accessed via a small bridge spanning the landscaped ditch along the west elevation.

INTERIOR: the chapel retains its 1950s interior including the sanctuary with coffered ceiling above, the stained glass windows above the altar and pendants hanging in the nave. The entrance lobby to the Primary Care Unit retains its 1920s timber panelling. The remainder of the interior could not be inspected (2015).

History

During the American War of Independence (1775-1783) there were a large number of prisoner of war hulks at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth and during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) a total of 47 hulks were moored at these dockyards. By 1805 the prisoner of war prisons at Norman Cross, Northamptonshire (1796-7, closed in 1816) and Stapleton near Bristol (1779) were full and a growing number of prisoners were held in hulks in Plymouth Harbour, in too close proximity to the arsenals at Plymouth. In response, the Admiralty built Dartmoor Prison in 1806-09 on land leased from the Duchy of Cornwall to designs by the London architect Daniel Asher Alexander (1768-1846).

Works on Dartmoor Prison started in the winter of 1805-6 and the foundation stone was laid on 20 March 1806. The first inmates were not received until 24 May 1809, and by June that year it housed 5000 prisoners of war. As described in Risdon’s Survey of Devon (1811), and illustrated by two views by Samuel Prout (1809 and 1811), by a print published in Ackermann’s Repository of 1810, by two engravings of 1815, one illustrating the massacre of rioting American inmates in that year, and by a survey drawing of the prison of 1847, Dartmoor Prison consisted of five blocks laid out in a radial arrangement around a central market place, in total covering c12ha and surrounded by a double, circular perimeter wall. Internal walls divided the prison into a number of sections. In the central market place prisoners could trade with outside traders. The western part of the prison included an Infirmary and a separate Petty Officer’s Prison. The main entrance of the prison was flanked to the right by the Governor’s House and to the left by the Surgeon’s House. Fresh water was supplied via a reservoir and conduit outside the prison wall opposite the main entrance. From here it was led into the prison and carried about the site in five open channels, feeding a bathing pool (on the site of the current E Wing) and passing beneath privy blocks privies attached to each prison wing. The foul water was then carried away from the prison to the east. The five two storey prison blocks with attics housed up to 500 men. Metal columns on each floor held the sleeping hammocks, with stairs at either end of the building, as shown on the 1847 survey. The attics were meant to be used for exercising but due to overcrowding they were soon used for sleeping in. In the attic of the former chapel block, originally one of the five early prison blocks, the fixings for the hammocks on the roof timbers survive in situ (NMR Record).

In 1812, following the outbreak of the trade wars with America, two blocks were added to house prisoners, and the Petty Officer’s block was converted into a barrack to supplement the large barracks complex south of the prison.

The prison closed in 1816. Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, who had been closely involved with the establishment of the prison and the foundation of Princetown, feared that the closure would lead to the depopulation of the moor. He successfully campaigned for the building of a railway from Plymouth to Princetown, opened in 1827, but this did not lead to major economic development in the area.

In 1850 the prison was re-opened to become a civilian prison to address the contraction in the transportation of prisoners to Australia. Four of the existing seven blocks were used for convicts: two of these were left as open blocks to house invalid convicts, whilst the other two blocks were gutted and converted into four-storied cell blocks. By 1851 there was accommodation for 1030 inmates at Dartmoor Prison, who mainly undertook the building works, completed in 1853, and additional heavy land reclamation work on the moor.

During the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s a number of alterations were made to the prison by the architect Sir Edmund du Cane (1830-1903). In 1863 he had been appointed Director of Convicts and Inspector of Military Prisons, in 1869 became Surveyor-General of Prisons, Chairman of the Board of Convict Prisons and Inspector-General of Military Prisons, and from 1878 until his retirement in 1895 was Chairman of the Prison Commission for local prisons. His work at Dartmoor Prison includes the former no. V prison block (1871-1873, demolished and replaced by the gymnasium in the late C20), the current D wing (1879-1883) and the current B wing (1880-1885). By 1885 the current F wing had been remodelled internally by Colonel AB McHardy, the then Surveyor of Prisons. By 1895 Dartmoor Prison could accommodate 1303 convicts.

Further rebuilding of the prison took place during the first quarter of the C20. In 1900 another aqueduct was built to the east of the prison and the prison’s outer perimeter wall was strengthened with 18 buttresses in addition to the 25 that had been added in 1897. In 1901 the current E wing was completed to designs by Colonel Alten Beamish, Surveyor of Prisons, followed by the current G wing built in 1901-04/5. The current A wing was built in 1905-8 and C wing in 1912-14/15. A detailed description of Dartmoor Prison, following a number of visits, was published in 1909-10 by RG Alford (Notes on the buildings of English Prisons, vol. 2, pp75-87).

In 1917, following the introduction of the 1916 Home Office Scheme, Dartmoor Prison became one of a number of labour camps in the country holding conscientious objectors. Dartmoor Prison housed around 1000 conscientious objectors, who mainly undertook farm labour or worked in quarries on the Moor.

After the First World War, Dartmoor became a civilian prison again. In1932 a mutiny took place resulting in extensive fire damage to the administration block in the centre of the prison, and was subsequently demolished (the site now occupied by the modern kitchen block). Around this time the inner perimeter wall had already gone, later to be replaced with a tall metal fence.

The 1945 Prison Commission Report identified the need for new, purpose-built secure prisons and by 1947, when the lease of the site from the Duchy of Cornwall expired, it was hoped Dartmoor Prison could be closed. However, no new prisons opened until the mid-1950s and Dartmoor remained open. The White Paper ‘Penal Practice in a Changing Society’ published in 1959 did result in a major prison building programme but Dartmoor Prison remained open.

In 1990 major prison riots took place in Britain, including at Dartmoor Prison which led to an extensive refurbishment programme in order to improve the prison’s security, including the replacement of all roof coverings with metal. Both A and D wing were refurbished, and since then the other wings have been modernised too, except for C wing which was closed in 2002 and retains most of its 1914/15 interior. As part of the modernisation of the prison a network of covered walks was built leading from the kitchen in the centre to the various prison blocks. A modern gymnasium was built on the site of the former no V cell block of 1871-3 by du Cane which in 1953 had been replaced by a nissen hut, thus retaining the radial plan form of the prison.

The former Petty Officers’ block was built in 1806-9 and set within its own walled enclosure in the south-western part of the prison. In 1812, the two storey, U-shaped building became a barracks for extra troops that were needed to guard the American Prisoners of War that were arriving. When the prison re-opened in 1850 the building was converted to become the prison infirmary (now known as the Primary Care Unit), incorporating a chapel. Between 1909 and 1912 alterations took place. A new entrance was created to the west side of the south wing. The latter was also extended at its south-west end to create a new ward with offices above (now part of the segregation unit). An ablution tower was added to the east side of the building with a bathroom for each floor. Drawings for this scheme, dating from 1909, are held in the Ministry of Justice Archive. By 1927 an isolation ward had been added to the north side of the south wing (by the late C20 in use as a library) and an extension was added to the north of the Chapel to house a fire engine. In the 1950s the interior of the chapel was remodelled to designs now held in the Ministry of Justice Archive.

Reasons for Listing

The former Petty Officers' Block, now chapel, Primary Care Unit and Segregation Unit, H M Prison Dartmoor, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the main building essentially retains its form, which though severe and lacking in ornament, is representative of the architectural style originally employed by Daniel Alexander in Dartmoor prison more widely;
* Historic interest: as an integral part of the historic Dartmoor Prison complex, dating from 1806-9, the main building was the original petty officer's block; prison buildings surviving of this type and date are rare;
* Group value: the building forms part of an important and relatively complete group of listed prison buildings, together reflecting the historic development of H M Prison Dartmoor and its distinctive radial plan form as first envisaged in 1806-9.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.