Part of Former House of Detention, Below Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre is a Grade II listed building in the Islington local planning authority area, England. First listed on 29 December 1950. Former prison.
Part of Former House of Detention, Below Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre
- WRENN ID
- lesser-sandstone-snow
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Islington
- Constituency
- Islington South and Finsbury MP: Emily Thornberry (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 29 December 1950
- Type
- Former prison
- Address
- Part of Former House of Detention, Below Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre, Sans Walk
- OS grid reference
- TQ 314 823
- Coordinates
- 51.52439, -0.10601
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
This is part of the former House of Detention, located beneath the playground and main buildings of the former Hugh Myddelton Schools, now known as Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre. The structure was built between 1845 and 1847 by William Moseley and was altered during the Second World War for use as an air-raid shelter. It is constructed of brick, stone, and wrought iron.
The largest accessible area is the former female corridor, which extends from the south-west to the north-east and features broad 'transepts' at its midpoint. Cells are located on either side of the passage, which is interrupted but not blocked by later transverse walls that serve as screens. The walls are made of brick, and the roofs consist of shallow brick arches, except for one area in the north transept, which was formerly the warders' hall and clerk's office and has granite columns and wrought iron beams. The floor is predominantly stone.
The cells have cambered-arched entrances, some retain metal window grilles, and there are cast iron 'eyes' in the walls, likely used for chaining prisoners. The female corridor was the southernmost section of the prison; to the north was a central hall, located roughly beneath the hall of the current college building, with male corridors extending to the west, north, and east, and a shorter administrative corridor to the south. Part of the western corridor is listed separately, and some areas beneath the present college building are in use by the college.
Local climate
Part of Former House of Detention, Below Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre 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 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 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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Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Cells, Former House of Detention, Kingsway College Clerkenwell Close
- 2 School Keeper's House, Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre
- 3 Reading Gaol (main building) former Her Majesty's Prison
- 4 Boundary Wall, Kingsway College Clerkenwell Close
- 5 Female Cell Block, former Her Majesty's Prison Northallerton
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Nearby listed buildings
- School Keeper's House, Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre
- Former Cookery and Laundry Building, Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre
- Numbers 26 to 32 (Even) and Attached Railings
- Outbuilding on South Side of the Yard, Kingsbury College Clerkenwell Centre
- Cells, Former House of Detention, Kingsway College Clerkenwell Close
- Kingsway College Clerkenwell Centre
- 22a and 24 St James's Walk
- Bollard Outside Number 20
- Number 20 and Attached Railings
- Former Bowling Green Lane Board School