Former Her Majesty's Prison Shepton Mallet

Former Her Majesty's Prison Shepton Mallet

This is a mid-19th-century prison complex built around an earlier core, following the radial plan typical of Victorian prisons. The main quadrangle dates from the early 19th century, with major extensions in 1843 and the addition of C Wing in 1848. The prison remained in use until recent times, with modifications including repairs after a fire in 1904 and wartime alterations during the Second World War.

Materials

The central Keeper's House Range is rendered with rusticated stone detailing at ground floor level. The remainder of the main quadrangle and C Wing have exposed rubble limestone walls with ashlar stone dressings throughout.

Layout

The prison is arranged as a main quadrangle with an administration block (the Keeper's House Range) forming the north side, cell ranges to the east (A Wing) and west (B Wing), and the former hospital wing to the south (D Wing). South of this quadrangle stands a U-shaped range known as C Wing, comprising a further cell wing originally built for women and a former chapel wing.

The Keeper's House Range

The front elevation presents an austere classical facade. At its centre stands a four-storey rendered stone block, three bays wide. The central doorway, which was blocked at the time of inspection in 2013, has a plain stone surround with a moulded cornice above and is flanked by square-headed sash windows. The upper three storeys each contain three sash windows. At second-storey level, the central sash has six-over-six panes flanked by nine-over-nine sashes. On the third storey the central window is three-over-six with four-over-eight sashes either side. At fourth-storey level, above a plat band, the central window has three-over-three panes with four-over-four flanking sashes. All windows have square-headed stone surrounds with emphasised keystones.

Four-storey towers at either end of the central block are connected to it by three-storey links. The left link contains a blocked semi-circular archway and narrow barred windows in ashlar surrounds with keystones. The right link is similar in design but has been obscured by a mid-20th-century extension to the gatehouse built in front of it. The end towers rise four storeys with sash windows to the ground floor and narrow windows above (some window openings in the left tower have been dropped). Some narrow windows retain thick external bars which may represent an early phase of the prison. The fourth floors were probably added in 1843 when the cell wings to the rear were extended.

To the west side of the right tower, set back from the main elevation, are three further bays forming the north elevation of B Wing. These were added as part of the 1843 extension, rise four storeys, and include cell windows, an entrance way, and a set of double-height atrium windows.

The south elevation of the Keeper's House Range forms the north side of the prison courtyard. The central block has three bays with a central doorway flanked by sash windows, with further sashes above. Two-storey links extend on either side: the right has a door at ground floor with a window above; the left has a window on each floor. Three-storey towers with three bays each stand to either side of the links, both largely obscured by the connecting A and B Wings.

A section of late-19th or early-20th-century cast-iron railings approximately three metres high, set on stone footings, separates the Keeper's Yard from the prisoner's exercise yard to the south. Formerly, as suggested by Carver's plan of 1843, the prisoner's yard was bisected by a central passage lined on either side by six enclosed prisoner's yards, each with a central open shed on pillars. The level of the current open courtyard is higher than that of the surrounding site, suggesting it has been built up over time.

Inside the Keeper's House Range, most recently used as offices for prison administration, the centre contains a timber dog-leg open-string staircase with a moulded handrail. The former Keeper's rooms have been reused as offices. The east wing has had numerous late-20th-century stud partitions inserted to create office space. The western link contains a stone staircase with a metal baluster and timber handrail. Timber staircases are also present in the towers at either end of the range. The roof has a Crown-post construction.

Prison Quadrangle

The courtyard elevations of the four ranges are three storeys high. A Wing (the eastern block), B Wing (the western block), and D Wing (the southern block) complete the other sides of the quadrangle. Within the courtyard these ranges all stand three storeys high.

A Wing has eleven bays and B Wing has fourteen bays. Most of the openings in these elevations are narrow segmental-arched cell casement windows with ashlar surrounds and external bars. A small rectangular flat-roof lean-to is attached to the east wing, and an axial chimney stack rises from the roof in the middle of the range.

D Wing has seven bays: three at either end with cell windows and a central bay with a three-storey recessed segmental arch containing an arched entrance way and window above. These wings show signs in the stonework of alterations to the openings, vestiges of the changing arrangement of cells and access points within the prison over time.

The outside wall of the east wing forms part of the perimeter wall. The outside elevation of the west wing is four storeys, including a row of blocked arches on the first storey (formerly an arcaded undercroft, later used for storage), with three rows of cell windows above.

The outside elevation of the south range faces onto C Wing. At either end are large atrium windows for the east and west ranges. At the east end is also an external stone staircase leading to a small pavilion entrance providing access to A Wing. A small brick flat-roof block attached to this elevation was constructed as an execution chamber during the American occupation of the prison in the Second World War and was later reused as an office.

The roofs are hipped and have been recovered with slate tiles and roof lights in the 20th century. Five square ashlar air vents rise from the ridges.

The three wings have undergone various phases of alteration, most notably in 1843 when they were extended, and following the fire in 1904 when the timber roofs were badly damaged and subsequently replaced by metal frames.

A Wing is a single-sided cell block opening eastwards onto a side atrium. It has three storeys with galleried walkways on the upper floors accessed by dog-leg stairs at either end.

B Wing has a central atrium with two rows of cells leading off from either side over three floors, with galleried walkways on the upper floors accessed by dog-leg stairs at either end.

D Wing is three storeys with a corridor on the northern side and rooms to the south.

The current wings were adapted in the mid-19th century from the original early-19th-century cells, and this evolution can still be seen through internal anomalies such as transverse arches which cut across some cells, indicating the former wall line of the earlier wing.

Within the cell wings there has been some loss of early metalwork due to changing prison needs, particularly the replacement of earlier balustrading over the galleries with steel frames. However, many of the early cast-iron stairs within these wings survive, with string balusters, geometric grated risers, and some banisters with volute finishes. All of the galleries are supported by decorative cast-iron brackets.

The cell doors have been replaced as part of various phases of refurbishment. Nevertheless, some early cell doors survive, for example on the top gallery of B Wing in the south-east corner where a former cell has been used to provide access to the roof. The door is a plank door with detail studs, an oval peep hole, and lined internally by a thick metal sheet. Despite the various phases of refurbishment, there is also evidence of the early form of the cells, including the remains of grated air vents and torchlight recesses, features that can be seen in various cells throughout the prison.

C Wing

The U-shaped C Wing of 1848, to the south of the quadrangle, comprises a four-storey cell wing (east) and a three-storey chapel wing (west), both of the same physical height. The former slate roof to the chapel wing was replaced in the late 20th century with metal, but that to the cell wing remains.

The east and west elevations of the cell wing are nine bays wide with round-arched window and door openings, and three rows of segmental-arched cell windows above. The south elevation has four round-arched openings to the ground floor. Above, from left to right, is a small cell window, a central door flanked by narrow casements, and a rectangular shaped blind opening to its right. Above, matching the chapel wing's south end, it has a tall Venetian window with round-arched windows of the same height to either side, offering daylight to the galleries with cells from the south.

The five-bay side elevations to the chapel wing have round-arched openings to the ground floor, unevenly spread. The floor above has no openings except for a later inserted fire exit at the west side. The chapel at the top floor was lit by five tall round-arched windows to each side elevation, but these were closed off from the inside when the former chapel was converted to a gym in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The west elevation has an external stepped full-height stack with the chimney truncated just under the eaves. Fire exits with external metal stairs have been inserted later to both east and west.

The three-storey link between the chapel wing and the cell wing is two bays wide and has large, chunky, multi-paned, cast-iron twin windows to each floor. In the left-hand bay, two bow windows to the upper floors have similarly multi-paned cast-iron windows.

The cell wing to the east has a three-tiered gallery lined with individual prison cells, with cast-iron stairs at either end with tubular handrails and closed treads with open risers. The cast-iron railings to the galleries are also tubular, and the gallery floors are supported by decorative cast-iron brackets. The layout and position of the individual cells survives throughout, each cell with metal beds screwed to the floor. The bow windows to the south elevation in the link building contain good quality internal cast-iron window furniture.

The chapel wing has been fully refurbished and no longer contains any fixtures or fittings of note. The current gymnasium on the upper floor does not contain any features relating to its original use as a chapel. The 20th-century interior within the former chapel wing, most recently used as a gymnasium on the top floor and visitor facilities on the two lower floors, is not of special architectural or historic interest.

Excluded Structures

The 1970s chapel, kitchen and education block, boiler house and attached chimney, modern gatehouse buildings and fence in the south-east corner of the site, stair tower and attached walkway bridge, and the factory building to the south of the prison site are not of special interest. They are architecturally modest structures and late in date. These structures are excluded from the list entry.