Burgage Green, Southwell, Notts.

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 29 Jul 2019

In the foreground is the entrance to the former "Nottinghamshire House of Correction" (a.k.a. Southwell Gaol). On the left-hand side of the Mansfield Stone-fronted entrance is the former Governor's House, built in 1866. This, the second or third prison was built in 1807 on the site of a former brickworks to replace one no longer fit for purpose. This one originally held 36 prisoners but was extended later to house 148. It closed in 1880. Much later the three prisons wings that radiated from the rear of the governor's house were adapted for commercial purposes; firstly as a curtain lace factory and then later as a storage depot. Most of the site however, was destroyed by fire in 1973. Behind the Grade II-listed entrance the site has been redeveloped for residential purposes, including a former prison chapel. The newly created Becher's Court, as the site is now known, is named after The Rev. Rev. John T. Becher (1770-1848), B.A., M.A., a prebendary and vicar-general of Southwell in 1818. in 1830. Besides his clerical duties, he was chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the Northern division of Nottingham for 30 years until his resignation in April 1836. He had a particular interest in social economics and he designed the parish workhouse at Southwell in 1808. Because of his views on the need for strictness, segregation and economy in workhouses he argued that they should be run “with tenderness towards the infirm and the guiltless poor” whilst resisting "the overwhelming advances of idle, profligate and sturdy pauperism." His view that workhouses should be unpleasant enough to deter all but the most needy was the basis of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 that allowed for the setting up of Poor Law Unions across the country.

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