View allAll Photos Tagged Thrumming
spun from the fiber Bryce and I dyed for thrummed mittens, he said he just wants mittens now. Navajo plied.
Museum & Art Gallery, Guildhall Road, Northampton.
Northampton County Gaol.
The Gaol Block.
The architectural features around you reveal the history of the building. It was initially designed as a Victorian addition to the County Gaol. The small cell windows are original and date from 1846 when the L-shaped block was built to house male prisoners.
When the gaol closed in 1880 its buildings were remodelled. The Victorian block was split and the shorter east wing provided accommodation for the Museum and Library. The longer west wing was altered and used by the Salvation Army and a mineral water company. In 1928 the County Council moved in using the building as offices, adding the grand arched entrance.
Prison Life.
When prisoners arrived at the gaol their crimes were listed in the Governor's letter book. Crimes ranged from stealing a cabbage, to poisoning cattle, to murder. Prisoners' days were filled with tasks that included shoemaking and thrum (mat making). Others walked the treadmill which ground corn. Work was punctuated by meal times and brief periods of exercise.
For those sentenced to death it was a short final walk from the condemned cells to the Hanging platform outside. The last person to be executed here was shoemaker Thomas Chamberlain. He was hanged in 1874 for the murder of John Newitt.