New Prison, Bath

Image: © Derek Harper Taken: 8 Dec 2019

The impressive five-window building in the centre is the former "Prison, now apartments. 1772-1773 converted C20. By Thomas Warr Atwood ... His stolid Palladian design was outwardly dignified but internally ill-suited to its task. The site was ill-chosen, as the basement floor was prone to flooding ... It was completed in 1774 and stood on its own amid fields until the surrounding Bathwick Estate began to be built up in the 1780s ... The prison was originally for debtors and had comfortable rooms on the ground floor, with cells for the more criminal in the basement; a block of solitary cells was constructed behind in the courtyard. A new prison was opened in Twerton in 1842, rendering Atwood's gaol superfluous. The building was subsequently converted into use as flats in c1975, having served variously as a police barracks, a tenement building, and a hostel for the homeless" https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1396120 . The lower red mansard-roofed building on its left is 17, Grove Street https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1396126 . Most of the other visible buildings are modern flats. Bathampton Down rises behind. This view looks right from Image] over the Cattlemarket car park.

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