The Black Dog, Dublin
Encyclopedia
The Black Dog was a prison in Newhall Market, now Cornmarket, in Dublin.
The Black Dog was located in Browne's Castle, which became a tavern from which the prison got its name. From the early 18th century the Black Dog functioned as the main debtors' prison in Dublin. The length of a prisoner's stay was determined largely by the whim of his creditors. It was run privately for profit; beds could be rented from the head warder for one shilling a night. Those who could not afford a bed were consigned to a damp airless dungeon, about 12 feet square and eight high, which had no light except that which was admitted through a sewer, which ran close by it and rendering the atmosphere almost insupportable.
One section of the prison was called the "nunnery" because it was used to hold prostitutes who had been captured by the parish watch.
In the 17th century the senior Aldermen of the city and other members of the Corporation were given power to run the prisons. These functionaries were accustomed to commit the entire management of this department of their offices to clerks, who paid their employers a percentage on all fees received.
In 1729 the gaoler, John Hawkins was tried for mismanagement and corruption. The House of Commons decided that
"John Hawkins, Keeper of His Majesty's gaol of Newgate, and Sheriff's Marshalsea of the city of Dublin, had been guilty of the most notorious extortion, great corruption, and other high crimes and misdemeanors, in the execution of his said offices; had arbitrarily and unlawfully kept in prison, and loaded with irons, persons not duly committed by any magistrate, till they had complied with the most exorbitant demands; and had put into dungeons and endangered the lives of many prisoners for debt under his care, treating them, and all others in his custody, with the utmost insolence, cruelty, and barbarity, in high violation and contempt of the laws of this kingdom." He was dismissed from his office.
The Black Dog was located in Browne's Castle, which became a tavern from which the prison got its name. From the early 18th century the Black Dog functioned as the main debtors' prison in Dublin. The length of a prisoner's stay was determined largely by the whim of his creditors. It was run privately for profit; beds could be rented from the head warder for one shilling a night. Those who could not afford a bed were consigned to a damp airless dungeon, about 12 feet square and eight high, which had no light except that which was admitted through a sewer, which ran close by it and rendering the atmosphere almost insupportable.
One section of the prison was called the "nunnery" because it was used to hold prostitutes who had been captured by the parish watch.
In the 17th century the senior Aldermen of the city and other members of the Corporation were given power to run the prisons. These functionaries were accustomed to commit the entire management of this department of their offices to clerks, who paid their employers a percentage on all fees received.
In 1729 the gaoler, John Hawkins was tried for mismanagement and corruption. The House of Commons decided that
"John Hawkins, Keeper of His Majesty's gaol of Newgate, and Sheriff's Marshalsea of the city of Dublin, had been guilty of the most notorious extortion, great corruption, and other high crimes and misdemeanors, in the execution of his said offices; had arbitrarily and unlawfully kept in prison, and loaded with irons, persons not duly committed by any magistrate, till they had complied with the most exorbitant demands; and had put into dungeons and endangered the lives of many prisoners for debt under his care, treating them, and all others in his custody, with the utmost insolence, cruelty, and barbarity, in high violation and contempt of the laws of this kingdom." He was dismissed from his office.