We headed across to Lancaster today (Wednesday), around Morecombe Bay. Shorter, and more adventurous, if we’d taken the direct route across the sands like Robert the Bruce, but the tides were against us, and I’m not sure the Skoda (or our insurance) were up for it. So the M66 it was.
Landcaster Castle is the site of an AD 60-70 Roman fort, thence a Norman fort in 1090 (William II). It’s been a prison and court of law since 1190, the last prisoners leaving as late as 2011, and the ‘rooms’ still open for session today. You can read the details on Wiki. Here’s what jumped out for me on our little tour:
- Hangings were strangulation (not the long drop neck break that was brought in much later), and they left the victims hanging for an hour to make sure they were dead – what a grotesque and horrible death. If you lasted the hour, you got to go free; no one did, although one fellow inserted a clay pipe into his throat to try.
- At one point, the guards weren’t paid, and they made their money running a supply service for inmates; extra food, candles, blankets etc. It was common for inmates to do their time, be set free, but spend another 2 to 3 years in jail to pay off the jailers.
- At one point, it was a debtor’s prison. While in prison, the inmate’s savings and interest could not be touched by the government. Within the prison, money could buy different classes of living; better rooms, servants, meals etc. Enterprising individuals, without other alternatives, would borrow large sums of money that they had no hope of repaying, and live out their time in relative luxury
- Court sessions were held twice a year when the judges visited, and all the cases were heard in a short period of time, 20 minutes per case, no breaks except for lunch. If you needed a comfort stop, you tapped the bench and a pan was handed around. The ladies’ gallery, up above, was prime real estate, apparently. For prisoners, it was a sausage factory to death (there were 220 crimes punishable by hanging); however, in later years, the harsh penalties worked against the court as the jury would not convict guilty criminals if they didn’t think it was worthy of death.
- Prisoners sentenced to deportation, Australians, had to walk for three weeks to South Hampton in irons, before boarding a ship to Terra Australis.
- After 1835, there was much local concern that moving hangings to Liverpool and Manchester would impact the town economy. Hangings drew large crowds, including children, supporting local trade and finally…
- Prisoners were given purposeless tasks so that they’d be free to reflect on their wrongdoing, carrying stone blocks, then moving them back again, etc. One such task was “the crank”, turning a weighted handle pointlessly. If inmates complained, the guards would tighten the crank’s screws, making it harder to turn – hence “screws”.
We found our way eventually, after various wanderings through the pleasant old town, to “The Water Witch” a pub by the canal, feasted on a decent plate of nachos and a couple of wines and headed the full 45 minutes home.
Oh, and finally (actual finally), Joseph Pilates was interned at Landcastle Castle as a German ‘alien’ living in England during WWI. He was moved to the Isle of Man, where he developed “pilates” to keep fit in prison (after watching cats and noting they remained strong and flexible even though undernourished). He maintained that, under his system, men left prison fitter than when they arrived.