Lincoln Castle was originally constructed on the orders of William the Conqueror in 1068.
By the early 17th century the castle had became a prison and inmates were kept in dungeons. The famous prison reformer, John Howard, visited Lincoln in 1776 and was appalled by the inmate’s living conditions. He persuaded the magistrates to raise funds to build a new prison which was constructed within the castle walls to the design of William Lumby and opened in 1788. It was a red-brick structure referred to as the Georgian gaol, consisting of two main buildings and included a chapel, infirmary and wash house. It was intended to hold debtors in the front building and felons in the rear building, as was the norm at this time. The prison governor’s house was also on the site.
The Felon’s wing was demolished in 1848 and a new wing constructed that was designed to operate the “separate system” of incarceration. This was known at the Victorian wing and was principally used to house male, female and child prisoners awaiting trial and convicts pending their execution or transfer to other prisons to serve their sentence. The debtors continued to be held in the original Georgian building.
The buildings that remain within the castle are from its later use as a prison and court. The Victorian county hall and assize court, built in 1826 is still used today, but the prison closed in 1878 although it is still intact and can be visited. The prison has the world’s only surviving “Separate System” chapel, where prisoners were kept apart in separate booths.
Prior to 1817 hangings took place near the West Gate of Lincoln Castle and the condemned were conveyed to the gallows in open carts. In the case of murderers the bodies were returned to the castle for dissection, after their execution.
In 1815 Cobb Hall tower was remodelled into its present form by E.J. Wilson, the county architect and surveyor, who also restored other parts of the Castle. From March 1817 the New Drop style gallows was set up on the flat roof of the Cobb Hall Tower, a large tower forming the north east bastion of the Castle and visible from the street below. The gallows was accessed by the prisoner and officials via a spiral stone staircase within the tower leading up to the roof level.
It has been stated that, due to its height, the scaffold had to be supported by ropes attached to a number of iron straps around the inner face of the parapet wall.
Cobb Hall Tower is a strangely shaped building set in the north-east wall of the castle. From the outside of the castle walls it appears to be a round tower but from inside the walls it is flat fronted. It is a two storey building with vaulted ceilings on the ground floor. The walls of the flat roof are complete with battlements.
Executions at Lincoln Castle.
There were 38 public hangings were carried out on the roof of Cobb Hall tower during the 42 years up to 1859. Three were double hangings plus one triple and one quadruple. Only twelve, including the three females, were for murder.
28 year old Elizabeth Whiting was the first to be hanged on the New Drop gallows here, on Saturday the 15th of March 1817 for the murder of her “bastard child”. She reportedly died without a struggle.
Elizabeth Warriner was the next to die when she was hanged on Saturday the 26th of July 1817 having been convicted at the Lincolnshire Summer Assizes for the poisoning murder of her 11 year old stepson, John. William Langland who had been convicted at the same Assizes was to die for being an accessory to burglary, and was hanged on the 15th of August 1817.
Thomas Knapton, aged 17, was hanged on the 26th of July 1833, for the rape of 19 year old Frances Elstone.
31 year old Eliza Joyce was hanged here by William Calcraft on Friday the 2nd of August 1844 for the murder by arsenic poisoning of her stepson, 15 year old William.
Mary Ann Milner should have been executed on the 21st of July 1847 but hanged herself in her cell the night before. She had been convicted of or administering arsenic to her sister in law. Her suicide led to the practice of never leaving a condemned prisoner unguarded in a cell, which continued until abolition.
The last public execution was carried out at noon on Friday the 5th of August 1859, when Edward Henry Carey, 24, and William Picket, 20, were hanged by Thomas Askern for the murder of 64 year old William Stevenson, a farmer, at Sibsey, near Boston. It was reported that between 15,000 and 20,000 people had come to witness this event and that “Pickett struggled for about two minutes, but Carey scarcely moved”, after the drop fell.
A further four hangings took place in private in a yard to the west of the courthouse. Many of the prisoners who were executed at the castle where buried at the base of the Tower mound or inside the Lucy Tower where their gravestones can still be seen.
Priscilla Biggadyke was the first to be hanged in private, by Thomas Askern, on the 28th of December 1868 for the murder of her husband. The gallows was set up close to the Lucy Tower in what is now the castle car park.
Frederick William Horry became the first person to be hanged using the “long drop” method when he was executed by William Marwood on the 1st of April 1872, for the murder of his wife, Jane.
Peter Blanchard, age 26, was hanged by William Marwood on the 9th of August 1875 for the murder of 22 year old Louisa Hodgson on Sunday the 7th of March 1875 on the public highway in Louth. The motive for stabbing Louisa was jealousy, as she did not want him and on that Sunday went to church in the company of another young man.
44 year old William Clarke (alias Slenderman) was the last to be hanged, by William Marwood at 9.00 a.m. on Monday the 29th of March 1877 for the shooting murder of 56 year old Mr. Henry Walker during a robbery at Norton Disney on the 30th of January 1877.
| Cobb Hall Tower – public hangings. | Total 38 | |
| Name | Date | Crime |
| Elizabeth Witing | 15/03/1817 | Murder of her infant child |
| Elizabeth Warriner | 26/07/1817 | Murder of her stepson, John, age 11 |
| William Langland | 15/08/1817 | Accessory to burglary |
| Thomas Norris & | 27/03/1818 | Arson |
| Thomas Evison | 27/03/1818 | Arson |
| Richard Randall & | 27/03/1818 | Highway robbery |
| John Tubbs | 27/03/1818 | Highway robbery |
| John Louth | 19/03/1819 | Burglary |
| Richard Johnson | 06/08/1819 | Horse theft |
| William Fox | 17/03/1820 | Rape of Mary Roads |
| David Booth | 23/03/1821 | Burglary |
| John Parish | 23/03/1821 | Burglary |
| James Cawthorne | 09/08/1821 | Murder of his wife |
| John Rogers | 22/03/1822 | Highway robbery |
| Joseph Birkett | 02/08/1822 | Highway robbery |
| William Arden | 21/03/1823 | Sodomy |
| Benjamin Candler | 21/03/1823 | Sodomy |
| John Doughty | 21/03/1823 | Sodomy |
| John Smith | 15/03/1824 | Murder of Sarah Arrowsmith |
| James Wetherell | 20/08/1824 | Murder of William Berridge |
| William Udale | 23/03/1827 | Sheep theft |
| Thomas Lister | 27/03/1829 | Housebreaking |
| Thomas Strong | 19/03/1830 | Housebreaking |
| John Clarke | 19/03/1830 | Sheep theft |
| Timothy Brammer | 19/03/1830 | Housebreaking |
| Michael Lunday | 12/03/1831 | Murder of Thomas Seaward |
| John Greenwood | 18/03/1831 | Burglary |
| William Hall | 22/07/1831 | Murder of Edward Button |
| Thomas Notley | 29/07/1831 | Arson |
| Richard Cooling | 29/07/1831 | Arson |
| William Taylor | 18/03/1833 | Murder of William Burbank |
| William Stephenson | 22/03/1833 | Highway robbery |
| Thomas Knapton | 26/07/1833 | Rape of Frances Elstone, age 19 |
| Thomas Johnson | 17/03/1843 | Murder of Elizabeth Evison |
| Eliza Joyce | 02/08/1844 | Murder of stepson, William |
| John Ward | 27/07/1849 | Murder of his mother |
| William Pickett & | 05/08/1859 | Murder of William Stevenson |
| Henry Carey | 05/08/1859 | Murder of William Stevenson |
| Lincoln Castle private hangings | Total 4 | |
| Name | Date | Crime |
| Priscilla Biggadyke | 28/12/1868 | Murder of her husband |
| Frederick William Horry | 01/04/1872 | Murder of his wife, Jane |
| Peter Blanchard | 09/08/1875 | Murder of Louisa Hodgson |
| William Clark | 26/03/1877 | Murder of Henry Walker (gamekeeper) |
When the Castle Gaol closed executions were transferred to the recently constructed Lincoln Prison on Greetwell Road that had opened in 1872. James Anderson was the first to be executed there on the 19th of February 1883, for the murder of his wife.
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