Knutsford prison - the County Gaol for Cheshire.

The new prison at Knutsford opened on London Road, Knutsford in 1818. It became the County Gaol for Cheshire in 1866 and would continue in the role until 1915.

The original buildings were the Sessions House, Grand Jury Room, and House of Correction (as prisons were known at this time). Demolition of the prison took place in 1934 but the Sessions House was retained, later becoming Knutsford Crown Court and later still a restaurant. The prison was designed by George Moneypenny in the Panopticon style with four wings radiating from a central building which contained the governor’s accommodation. Each wing was 105 feet long with workrooms and dayrooms on the ground floor, and inmate’s cells in the three stories above and had a capacity of 700, although the average population in 1860 was 273 inmates. Photos of the prison are here and here.

A female wing was built in 1852 at the west side of the site to house 100 women. It consisted of three single-sided cell blocks in a U-shape with cells on the inside and an open corridor beyond. This closed in 1883 but was refurbished in 1905 to hold women again. In the intervening years female inmates were held in A Wing of the main prison.

In 1914 Knutsford Prison was taken over by the military. Cheshire executions were transferred to Walton and Strangeways prisons.

Executions at Knutsford (8)

39 year old Owen McGill was the first to be hanged here, by James Berry on the 22nd of February 1886, for the murder of his wife, 34 year old Mary at Landican in Cheshire.

Thomas Bevan, aged 20, was executed on the 16th of August 1887 by James Berry, for the murder of his aunt, 59 year old Sarah Griffiths during a robbery at her house in Crewe.

18 year old Richard Davies was hanged by James Berry on the 8th of April 1890 for killing his father, also Richard, at Crewe on the 25th of January 1890. His brother, George, being 16 at the time was reprieved.

On the 22nd of August 1890, 60 year old Felix Spicer was put to death by James Berry for the murder of his son, 14 year old William. at their home in Richmond Street in Wallasey.

William Hancock, age 35, was hanged by John Billington and Henry Pierrepoint on the 9th of August 1905 for the murder of his daughter, 15 year old Mary Elizabeth Hancock at Birkenhead.

58 year old Edward Hartigan suffered on the 27th of November 1906 for the murder of his wife, Catherine, age 45, at Stockport. Henry Pierrepoint was the hangman.

21 year old James Phipps was hanged on the 12th of November 1908 by Henry and Thomas Pierrepoint for the murder of 10 year old Elizabeth Warburton at Winsford.

On the 19th of March 1912, 38 year old John Williams was hanged by John Ellis for the murder of his wife, 39 year old Hilda on Price’s Lane in Birkenhead.

These executions took place in a purpose built execution shed which was the fashion of the time. Apparently, there was a belief that if you put an ear to the outer wall you could hear the drop, so the morbidly curious would place their ear to the wall. All eight bodies were buried within “the precincts of the prison”. After World War I they were exhumed and re-interred at Strangeways prison on the 23rd of November 1928.

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