Belle Vue Gaol was a Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 prison in Gorton

Gorton

Gorton is an area of the city of Manchester, in North West England. It is located to the southeast of Manchester city centre. Neighbouring areas include Longsight and Levenshulme....

, Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It operated between 1850 and 1888. It was notorious at the time for abysmal prisoner living conditions. It was demolished in 1892.

Purpose

When the building of the gaol, located near Hyde Road, commenced circa 1845 it was intended to have been a short-term prison housing male and female inmates who were serving sentences of no more than six months. However, there are prison records that show that there were a few prisoners, mainly military prisoners, usually deserters, who were imprisoned there for up to two years. There were also facilities for securing prisoners awaiting trial at the Assize

Assizes (England and Wales)

The Courts of Assize, or Assizes, were periodic criminal courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the Quarter Sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court...

 court (after July 1864) in Manchester and the Quarter Sessions

Quarter Sessions

The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...

 located nearby. The jail was considered to be inadequate and as a result many other prisoners were sent to the New Bailey prison in Salford.

Footnote

• Most of the above information from research carried out by Gerard Lodge of the Manchester Family History Research website.