The Old Gaol

THE OLD GAOL, MARKET HILL, BUCKINGHAM

A former gaol built in 1748 at the expense of Viscount Cobham of Stowe, following the passage of a Parliamentary Bill that year to establish the Summer Assizes at Buckingham. The building was subsequently altered in the 19th century, with a gaoler's house added to the front by G Gilbert Scott and the gaol remodelled. Further alterations followed in the later 19th and 20th centuries.

The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with limestone dressings and has a hipped slate roof over the cell block, with brick internal stacks. It is designed in a mock castle style and comprises a rectangular walled enclosure with square corner turrets, the south side being hollow to the courtyard, a cell block opposite alongside an open courtyard, and a bowed extension to the front.

The front elevation features a 2-storey curved extension that projects between the original turrets, with an entrance bay that breaks forward to resemble a gatehouse. The entrance has a central studded door with a double-chamfered pointed head dying into piers either side. Above is a 2-light leaded stone mullion window with a hoodmould and an ashlar battlemented parapet stepped up to the centre and framing a blank cross loop. Triangular projections flank the entrance, each with blank cross loops and corbelled-out square turrets above, which rise above the battlemented parapet and have cross loops to the front and their own battlemented parapets on corbel tables. The turrets contain leaded 1-light windows to the first floor with double-chamfered stone surrounds. The bowed sides of the former gaoler's house have 2-light leaded stone mullion windows to the ground and first floors, each with hoodmoulds.

The plinth is battered to the entrance bay and chamfered to the sides. A first-floor string course runs around, with a further string at the base of the battlemented parapets. The corner turrets of the original block rise above the battlemented curtain wall and are decorated with blank pointed quatrefoils to the front at first-floor level, blank cross loops above, and battlemented parapets. These turrets widen slightly below the battlements, which are set slightly forward with a cornice to the outer sides punctuated by two round arches. A similar arcaded cornice runs around the curtain walls.

The left side of the front elevation features a pointed arched doorway approached by four stone steps. The rear elevation displays three blank quatrefoils at first-floor level above later openings with double-leaf doors and segmental-arched brick heads. The flanking turrets have two chamfered pointed arched blank windows, one above the other, with moulded stone sills and cross loops above. A single cell window at high level in the wall has a stone surround and iron grille of horizontal slit form.

The interior contains a 2-storey cell block with a first-floor landing of York stone serving the cells, supported by cast-iron brackets and approached by a stone cantilever dogleg stair with plain iron balustrades. Originally the building contained approximately five cells on the ground floor and eight upstairs, though the exact number is difficult to determine. Several cells survive unaltered with most of the original cell doors intact. The surviving cells feature brick floors and painted brick barrel-vault roofs, fitted wood mattress frames, and double cell doors with peepholes. The backs of the inner doors are lead-plated, with studded outer doors on the exterior. One trefoil-shaped cell occupies the ground floor of one of the turrets. Three upstairs cells were converted in the 19th century into a police station, for which 12-pane sash windows were inserted and division walls removed. The original cell windows opening onto the courtyard are slit-shaped with York stone sills, jambs, curved lintels and iron gratings. The courtyard is paved with York stone and is partially encroached upon by a single-storey former fire engine store with a lean-to slate roof.

The gaol was built at a reputed cost of £7,000 and forms an important landmark at the head of the broad spaces in Market Hill and High Street. In design it resembles two contemporary eyecatchers at Stowe: the Keeper's Lodge, now known as the Bourbon Tower, and particularly Stowe Castle. Throughout most of its history the building was underused, with various parts serving as a police station, public conveniences (now removed) and a fire station. The gaoler's house is now occupied by council offices.