Her Majesty's Prison: governor's office, offices, boardroom, security and reception block is a Grade II listed building in the Bedford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 15 February 1993. Prison.
Her Majesty's Prison: governor's office, offices, boardroom, security and reception block
- WRENN ID
- lost-gateway-sparrow
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Bedford
- Constituency
- Bedford MP: Mohammad Yasin (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 15 February 1993
- Type
- Prison
- Address
- Her Majesty's Prison: governor's office, offices, boardroom, security and reception block, St Loyes Street, MK40 1HG
- OS grid reference
- TL 047 500
- Coordinates
- 52.13901, -0.47037
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Her Majesty's Prison includes the governor's office, offices, boardroom, security, and reception block. It was originally built in 1801 by architect John Wing. The building is constructed of Flemish bond red brick with painted stone dressings and features slate roofs with stone coped pedimental gable ends, along with brick end stacks.
The plan is cruciform, with a rear wing that was incorporated into an extension added in 1848-1849. The 1848-1849 'F' wing was added on the east side, and a 20th-century wing was added on the west side.
The exterior consists of three storeys and has a south front with a 4:3:4 bay arrangement. The central three bays project and feature a rebuilt pedimental gable with a bullseye. There are bands at the first floor and mid-storey levels. The windows have plain stone architraves, sills, and bars; the central three windows are in round-headed arches, with the central doorway featuring a semi-circular fanlight and glazed double doors. The central three windows on the first and second floors are 19th-century twelve-pane sashes. A 20th-century single-storey wing is located at the right angle, with a 20th-century extension on the left (west) end and the 1848-1849 'F' wing on the right (east). The rear features small first and second floor windows with cill bands, while the ground floor rear windows of the east wing have round arches.
The interior has not been inspected.
Bedford Prison was constructed in 1801 according to designs by John Wing. In 1848-1849, it was extended, with the perimeter walls and front entrance rebuilt, and flanking front wings added by Thomas Smith, the County Surveyor for Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
Local climate
Her Majesty's Prison: governor's office, offices, boardroom, security and reception block sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 91% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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