Cell blocks at HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Cell blocks at HMP Wormwood Scrubs

Four parallel cell blocks forming part of Wormwood Scrubs convict prison, built between 1874 and 1891 to the design of Edmund Du Cane, Chairman of the Prison Commission, Director of Convict Prisons, and Surveyor-General of Prisons. D Wing was completed in 1878, C Wing in 1880, B Wing in 1882, and A Wing in 1891. The 20-acre plot was purchased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1873.

The blocks are constructed of stock brick in English bond with stone dressings. Originally fitted with cast iron windows and slate roofs, these have been replaced. The prison was built economically using convict labour.

The cell blocks are laid out on the "telegraph-pole" plan, a new and progressive design form for Victorian prisons, consisting of parallel blocks arranged north-south to ensure every cell receives sunlight. Unlike earlier prisons such as Pentonville, which favoured a radial layout, this arrangement was influenced by "pavilion" hospital plans developed after the Crimean War by Florence Nightingale, designed to minimise infection spread and maximise fresh air circulation. The plan proved highly influential, becoming a model for subsequent English prisons including Bristol and Norwich following the 1877 Prison Act, and was closely copied at Fresnes in France and in the United States.

Each block contains four storeys of cells arranged either side of a central longitudinal gallery rising the full height of the building. Octagonal corner turrets of six stages flank the gallery on each elevation; these turrets housed secure, contained stair units and reflect the design of the prison gatehouse. Each block has a pair of sanitary bays on each long elevation, formerly housing a WC and sink to each floor. The blocks are lit by tall gallery windows on the north and south elevations, and were formerly also lit from above. Entrances are positioned at ground floor level at the north and south ends of each block.

Each block is symmetrical with identical north and south elevations. The turrets flank a gabled gallery lit by a tall round-arched two-light window beneath a roundel with moulded stone mullions and tracery, small cast-iron panes and leaded lights above. At ground floor, an entrance is set back under a gabled porch with a round arched stone entrance and stone kneelers; some porches have been restored. Turret windows have cambered brick arches. The upper stage of each turret is square with facetted angles and has a blind or infilled arch set back under a round arch, with moulded brick bands beneath a deep moulded cap and stone frieze echoing that of the gatehouse. The blocks are articulated throughout with brick and stone bands, some flush and some moulded.

The side elevations each have a pair of external four-storey sanitary bays. Cell windows, originally under cambered brick arches, have been enlarged with dropped cills. At the upper storey an embattled frieze alternates with window arches. All cell and turret windows have been replaced. Roofs have been replaced but retain tall ventilation shafts and altered dormer vents.

D Wing is shorter and on a smaller scale than the others, with smaller windows, and was built to house women prisoners. From the early 20th century, young offenders were housed in part of the prison, which provided a modified borstal system of education and training. The prison closed briefly from 1940 to 1942 when it became a military site, and on reopening again housed young offenders. In the 1990s the prison was refurbished, many 19th-century service blocks were demolished, and the cell blocks were linked by new buildings at the north end of the site.

Internally, all blocks have been remodelled, though the essential plan survives. The blocks were formerly linked transversely by covered walkways in Romanesque manner; similar but later examples survive at Nottingham Prison. The principal architectural interest of the cell blocks lies in their external elevations. Late 20th-century wings butting the blocks are not of special interest.

The cell blocks have strong group value with the gatehouse and chapel. This was a forward-thinking prison, the first to use the telegraph-pole layout, which was progressive in terms of prisoner welfare and management, providing workshops, hospital, recreational and spiritual support. The design proved economical to build, answering the acute problem of how and where to house convicts before deportation.