The Old Gaol Museum
Encyclopedia
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
in Buckingham
Buckingham
Buckingham is a town situated in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. The town has a population of 11,572 ,...
, the former county town of Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, 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...
.
The museum is located on Market Hill. It is a member of the Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
Heritage Association and the Association of Independent Museums
Association of Independent Museums
The Association of Independent Museums is an organisation that represents and supports independent museums based in the United Kingdom.It was established in 1977....
.
History
Following an Act of ParliamentAct of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
on 30 June 1747 (known as Lord Cobham's Act), the original prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
building was erected in 1748. The bulk of funding was from Richard Temple
Richard Temple
Richard Barker Cobb Temple was an English opera singer, actor and stage director, best known for his performances in the famous series of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas....
, fourth baronet of Stowe (1675–1749), who had been previously MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Buckingham.
It was built in the Gothic style
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
.
One of the prisoners jailed here was the prize fighter Simon Byrne. He was tried at the Buckingham Assizes in 1830 for the manslaughter of another prize fighter, Alexander M'Kay.
The rounded front of the building was added in 1839, designed by George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
, a local architect. This provided accommodation for the gaoler and became known as the Keeper's Lodge.
For around 60 years, the Old Gaol acted as the police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
for Buckingham, until a new police station was built a short distance away on Moreton Road. In 1891 it became a fire station
Fire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
, and the C Company of the 1st Bucks Rifles rented part of the building for their armoury
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
from 1892 until 1926. In 1907, public toilets were installed.
In the 1950s, it became an antiques shop and café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
. In 1974, the Aylesbury Vale District Council took over responsibility for the building. Buckingham Heritage Trust was formed in 1985 to save the building and it opened as a museum in 1993, together with a tourist information centre. The Old Gaol Museum obtained finance from the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
to add a glass roof over the original prisoners' exercise yard in 2000.
Museum
The museum is open to the public and tells the story of Buckingham and rural life, including the Flora ThompsonFlora Thompson
Flora Jane Thompson was an English novelist and poet famous for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, Lark Rise to Candleford.-Early life and family:...
Collection (Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. They were written by Flora Thompson and first published together in 1945...
author) and Buckinghamshire Military Trust exhibits. A number of the original cells form part of the museum exhibits.