Castle Museum The Debtors Prison

Castle Museum: The Debtors' Prison, York

The County Gaol and Debtors' Prison, now the Castle Museum, was built between 1701 and 1705, possibly by William Wakefield. The building underwent substantial alterations during extensions carried out between 1824 and 1835, and was modified for conversion to museum use around 1950. The pediments were rebuilt and strengthened in 1966.

The structure comprises a three-storey, three-bay central range flanked by projecting three-storey, five-bay wings. The front elevation is constructed of limestone ashlar with an ashlar parapet and pediments reinforced with concrete. The rear and returns have their upper storeys faced in red brick—the returns in Flemish bond and the rear in English garden wall bond—set on ashlar ground floors. Ashlar forms the pilasters, entablature and dressings, with a brick parapet coped in ashlar. The roofs are of lead and slate, and an ashlar clock turret with timber cupola rises from the centre.

The ground floor across all parts is rusticated on a chamfered plinth, forming a podium to giant Roman Doric pilasters that rise from a raised first floor band up to an entablature with a prominent moulded cornice. The centre bay features a rusticated central round arch with a dropped double keystone, flanked by coupled rusticated pilasters carrying a triglyph frieze. The wings are topped by massive segmental pediments with plain entablature beneath. The centre range has a central door of six incised panels in a stepped surround with a keyed lintel. At each end are original bolection moulded doorways with dropped keyblock lintels, now altered to two-light barred windows. Original ground floor windows with stepped backs beneath flat arches of radiating voussoirs survive on the fronts of the wings and the return of the left wing. The right wing return retains parts of two original bolection moulded doorways and one original two-light barred window. A chamfered plinth band forms a window sill band, stepped up over door openings.

First floor windows are generally two-light small-pane cross windows, though the centre of the right wing front has a 24-pane sash, and the wing return has an 18-pane sash. The centre window in the centre range has a sunk-panel apron. Second floor windows are squat two-lights, some sashes and some casements, with the centre one in the centre range being round-arched with a radial glazed head. All windows feature bolection moulded architraves with dropped keyblocks and moulded sills, the latter extended to form a sill band interrupted by pilasters on the wing fronts.

The centre range is surmounted by a square clock turret and octagonal cupola flanked by volutes. The surround to the clock face is moulded, and the cupola is arcaded with a keyed round arch on imposts to each face. The dome above a moulded cornice is finished with a ball finial and weathervane. Plentiful rainwater goods include inverted bell hoppers embossed with winged cherubs and fleur-de-lys clamps.

The rear elevation presents a three-storey, nine-window front. On the ground floor, windows are two-by-six-pane fixed lights behind massive iron grilles, set over a chamfered sill band. The first floor includes a former doorway at the left end, originally approached by an external stair, now altered to a 24-pane sash; other windows are small-pane cross windows as on the front. The second floor has seven windows of two-by-eight-pane fixed lights; towards the right end, two have been altered to sashes. All first and second floor openings have plain keyed surrounds with moulded sills. A plain first floor band runs across, with seven sets of rainwater goods matching those on the main front.

The left return rises three storeys with five windows arranged in a pattern of two, one, and two. The rusticated ground floor sits on a chamfered plinth, with a raised first floor band at the base of giant pilasters that clasp the outer angles and flank the centre bay. Ground floor openings have been altered, though an original door and window survive at the left end, detailed as on the main front. First and second floor windows repeat those on the main front, framed in plain keyed surrounds with moulded sills and aprons. A moulded cornice over the first floor windows breaks forward and incorporates window keyblocks. The entablature has a moulded cornice above the first floor beneath the parapet, interrupted by ashlar pedestals over pilasters with moulded coping.

The right return, also three storeys with five bays, exhibits irregular fenestration. The ground floor contains a heavy nail-studded door with original door furniture in its centre, set within a raised tooled surround; other windows are generally small-paned and behind iron grilles, some in chamfered surrounds. The first floor includes a blocked former doorway in a hacked-back surround at the left end; windows are mainly of two lights, generally cross windows, in plain raised surrounds with keyblocks, some retaining moulded sills. The second floor is largely obscured. A raised first floor band runs across, with entablature returned from the main front and rear, though interrupted across the return.

The interior retains two early 18th-century staircases: one in the east wing from ground to second floor, and a second in the centre range from first floor to clock turret. Both have close strings, thick column balusters, square newels and flat moulded handrails. A lower staircase in the centre range is of cast iron, with thick square section balusters and a flat moulded handrail. The west wing contains an inserted staircase from ground to second floor with stone treads, turned balusters, and newels and swept handrail of cast iron.

Ground floor passages and cells are vaulted and groined, with chamfered doorways in tooled surrounds; many retain their original doors. Heavy iron grille doors survive in the passages. The condemned cell retains its original fittings: a plain stone fireplace with a tooled shelf and cast-iron grate, an iron bed frame raised on stone blocks, and a stone table with a charcoal cooker hole. In the right wing, the stepped and moulded cornice of a former two-storey chapel is visible on the second floor.