York Castle prison.

York Castle prison.

At the end of the seventeenth century it was decided to build a prison inside the bailey of York Castle and work commenced on a new County Gaol which opened in 1705, having taken four years to build. 

 This building became known as the Debtor's prison which was described by Daniel Defoe as "the most stately and complete prison of any in the Kingdom, if not in Europe, kept as neat within side as it is noble without".  It is doubtful whether the inmates shared Defoe's enthusiasm however.

A courthouse was added next door to it on one side in 1737 and the Female Prison on the other side in 1783.  All these fine buildings remain, indeed the court still functions as York Crown Court.  The two prisons closed at the end of the nineteenth century and were converted into the Castle Museum which opened in 1938 and which is nowadays a really excellent visitor attraction.  The complete Victorian condemned cell can be viewed. 

Executions at York.

From 1379 to 1801 hangings were carried out on Knavesmire (outside the city walls on the road to Leeds) which now forms part of York racecourse. It was the site of York Tyburn, as the gallows were known and is marked by a plaque.  As at London's Tyburn the gallows was a triangular structure and had three uprights. 

 Prisoners were transported to it in horse drawn carts, sitting on their own coffins and with the noose around their necks. The gallows was also nick named the "three-legged mare" and its first victim was a rapist, Edward Hewison.  The most famous criminal to be executed here was the famous highwayman, Dick Turpin.  Turpin was in fact a horse thief and common criminal who became a legend in popular folklore. 

 He was hanged on April 7th 1739 together with John Stead, by Thomas Hadfield.  Hadfield was a condemned prisoner too, and had also been sentenced for highway robbery.  As was the custom at that time in York, executions were carried out by a condemned prisoner who had been pardoned on condition that he would act as hangman.

Just as happened in London, the gallows caused congestion at a major road junction and it was decided to move it to the prison. Its relocation was explained by the York Herald newspaper of July 25th 1801 as follows: “Thus will be removed from one of the principal roads leading to the city that disagreeable nuisance, the gallows; and thus will the inhabitants and passengers be no longer interrupted, and their humanity hurt, by the leading of unfortunate people to the place of execution.” 

 Between January and August 1800 ten men and three women were to suffer at York Tyburn.  There were no executions carried out at York from then until the following August when six men were hanged on the "New Drop" for rape, murder, and thefts. The gallows was set up at the back of the Castle, in an area bounded by the Castle Mills Bridge and the river Ouse.  This continued to be the principal place of execution until the mid 1820's. 

Executions were not a frequent event in York, even in the early 1800's.  There were none in 1802 or 1808, 4 in 1803, 1 in 1804 and 3 in 1805.  In all 147 men and 3 women were hanged within the Castle precincts between August 1801 and December 1896.

Probably the most famous female execution at York was that of "The Yorkshire Witch" on March the 20th 1809. 41 year old Mary Bateman had been convicted of the murder by poisoning in May 1808, of Rebecca Perigo.  

Mary had been a criminal since childhood and in later years began duping people with her alleged supernatural powers. In 1806, William and Rebecca approached Mary asking for her help as they suspected that they had been put under a spell.  Mary saw a great opportunity here to bleed the Perigo's of their money before killing them when they became suspicious of her activities.  She didn’t manage to kill William however, as he wouldn’t eat the poison she had prepared for them.  

Mary Bateman was hanged alongside two men and after execution her body was displayed in public and thousands paid to view it, with the proceeds going to charity. Strips of her skin were sold as charms to ward off evil.

1813 was to be the peak year for executions at York when a total of 26 men were to be hanged there. The first executions were carried out on Friday the 8th of January when three men suffered for murder.  Just over a week later, on the 16th January 14 Luddite's were executed for their parts in the raid on Cartwright's textile mill at Rawfold, in what was to be York's biggest ever hanging. (Cartwright had invented the "Spinning Jenny") They were put to death in two groups by John Curry - seven at 11.00 a.m. and seven at 1.30 p.m. A "vast concourse" of people assembled on St George’s Field to see this mass "launch into eternity" as hangings were known.  

A further nine men were hanged together on the 3rd of April for a variety of offences.  No more executions took place at York from then until 1817.

A new gallows was used from the mid 1820's - similar in pattern to the one used to hang John Thurtell at Hertford in 1824. This was brought out on the occasion of an execution into the open area in front of the Debtor's prison and between the Female prison and the court.  Its last victim was the murderer, Frederick Parker who was hanged on Saturday the 4th April 1868.  On the 29th May of that year Parliament passed the Capital Punishment within Prisons Bill ending public hangings.

Sometime between 1868 and 1896 a new balcony style gallows was set up in a purpose built shed in one of the prison’s yards.

Hangmen at York.

York always had its own hangman in the 18th century, appointed from the inmate population. Between 1802 and 1835, John (or William) Curry officiated there. He was known as "Mutton Curry" and had twice been convicted of sheep stealing, having had his death sentence commuted on each occasion. On the second occasion, he was awaiting transportation when the post of hangman became vacant and he accepted it, carrying out the hanging of three men on the 28th of August 1802 for stealing sheep, cattle and from a dwelling house, respectively. 

In all, Curry was responsible for at least 63 verifiable executions during his 33 year reign, which ended with a triple execution on Monday, the 6th of April 1835, when Ursula Lofthouse, Joseph Healy and William Allott were hanged for murder. As a convicted felon, Curry remained a prisoner himself until 1814. He found his job stressful and took to drinking a lot of gin to steel himself for the task. On the 14th of April 1821, he was called upon to perform two executions.

 First he hanged highwayman Michael Shaw at York Castle and then had to walk across town to execute William Brown for burglary at the City Gaol. He was somewhat drunk by the time he got there and while waiting on the platform for the prisoner to appear, he began shaking the noose at spectators calling out to them: "Some of you come up and I'll try it!" When Brown appeared, Curry had to be assisted by a warder and one of the sheriff's officers.

 "The executioner, in a bungling manner and with great difficulty (being in a state of intoxication), placed the cap over the culprit's face and attempted several times to place the rope round his neck, but was unable." "He missed the unfortunate man's head with the noose every time that he tried. The cap was each time removed from the malefactor's face, who stared wildly around upon the spectators" the Times newspaper reported on April 24th. The crowd were not amused by this and called out, "Hang him, hang Jack Ketch" (the generic name for the hangman).

On September 1st, 1821, Curry had to hang five men at one time. The execution was reported by The Yorkshire Gazette as follows. "On Saturday last, a few minutes before 12 o'clock, the unfortunate men were conducted from their cells to the fatal drop. "After a short time spent in prayer they were launched into eternity. None of them seemed to suffer much. "However, by an unaccountable neglect of the executioner (Curry) in not keeping sufficiently clear of the drop when the bolt was pulled out, he fell (into the trap) along with the malefactors." 

Curry was succeeded by James Coates, who was also a prisoner at York, having been sentenced to seven years transportation for larceny at the summer assizes of 1835. He executed Charles Batty in 1836 and Thomas Williams the following year, both for attempted murder. He managed to escape from the castle around 1839 and was never heard of again. 

Due to the unavailability of Calcraft, who was booked for an execution at Stafford on the same day, prisoner Nathaniel Howard took over the post in 1840 and hanged James Bradsley for the murder of his father on the 11th of April of that year. He went on to hang a further 17 men between then and 1853 when he bungled the hanging of murderer Henry Dobson so badly that, "when the drop fell and the rope tightened around his neck, the condemned man struggled violently" for which apparently Howard was dismissed. He was by this time old and in poor health and died six days later. 

There were no executions at York between April 1853 and 1856 and a new executioner had to be found to hang 28 year old William Dove for the murder of his wife on the 9th of August 1856, as Calcraft was again busy elsewhere. Thomas Askern, who was in prison for debt at the time, was appointed to the role and continued in office until 1868 performing eight executions at York including the last one in public, that of Frederick Parker on the 4th of April 1868. Executions had decreased markedly with the opening of Armley Gaol in Leeds, which became the place of many Yorkshire hangings from 1864 to 1961. Askern died in Maltby at the age of 62 on the 6th of December 1878, ending the practice of York using their own hangman. 

William Marwood officiated at the next five executions up to 1882. James Berry carried out the execution of James Murphy on the 29th of November 1886. James Billington carried out the final three hangings here, the last being that of August Carlsen on the 22nd of December 1896. York Castle did not have any executions in the 20th century.