Her Majesty's Prison: Perimeter wall is a Grade II listed building in the Bedford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 15 February 1993. A Victorian Prison perimeter wall.

Her Majesty's Prison: Perimeter wall

WRENN ID
third-brass-azure
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Bedford
Constituency
Bedford MP: Mohammad Yasin (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
15 February 1993
Type
Prison perimeter wall
Period
Victorian
Address
Her Majesty's Prison: Perimeter wall, St Loyes Street, MK40 1HG
OS grid reference
TL 048 502
Coordinates
52.14031, -0.46991
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Her Majesty's Prison perimeter wall was built between 1848 and 1849 by Thomas Smith. It is constructed of English bond red brick, with round corners in header bond and features ballnose brick coping. The walls are tall and approximately rectangular in shape, oriented on a north-south axis, with rounded corners and an entrance block along with wings at the southern end. There are round turrets topped with large rusticated stone domed caps.

This perimeter wall is part of the extension of Bedford Prison, which was originally built in 1801 to the designs of John Wing. The extension included the rebuilding of the perimeter walls and front entrance, along with the addition of flanking front wings by Thomas Smith, who served as the County Surveyor for Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Local climate

Her Majesty's Prison: Perimeter wall 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

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • 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
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

See all similar buildings →

this building   1 similar   nearby listed buildings

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Her Majesty's Prison: Wings A, B, C and F including former chapel wing Grade II 101 m
  2. 46 and 48, Adelaide Square Grade II 123 m
  3. Her Majesty's Prison: governor's office, offices, boardroom, security and reception block Grade II 148 m
  4. 15 and 17, The Crescent Grade II 164 m
  5. Girls High School Grade II 169 m
  6. 21 The Crescent Grade II 170 m
  7. Her Majesty's Prison: Main entrance and two flanking wings Grade II 170 m
  8. 49, 49A, 51 AND 51A, HARPER STREET (See details for further address information) Grade II 195 m
  9. 2, The Crescent Grade II 230 m
  10. 22 and 24, Bromham Road Grade II 240 m