Burgage Green Vicinity, Southwell, Notts.

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

The rear of the entrance to the former "Nottinghamshire House of Correction" (a.k.a. Southwell Gaol), with the Governor's House forming the right hand half of the photo. 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. The gaol 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; first as a curtain lace factory and later on as a storage depot. Most of the site however, was destroyed by fire in 1973. The whole of the site has recently been redeveloped for residential purposes. Becher's Court, as the site is now known, is named after The Rev. John T. Becher (1770-1848), B.A., M.A., who was a prebendary and vicar-general of Southwell in 1818. 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” but resist "the overwhelming advances of idle, profligate and sturdy pauperism." His support for the 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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