Concrete Perimeter Walls, Zone F and J, The former Maze Prison, Halftown Road, Lisburn, BT27

Concrete Perimeter Walls, Maze Prison

These reinforced concrete perimeter walls form the outer security boundary of Zones F and J at the former Maze Prison. The protected sections comprise the entire western perimeter wall (460 metres), a substantial section of the southern wall (469 metres), and the northern perimeter wall (172 metres), together representing approximately 1.1 kilometres or 36 per cent of the total perimeter and enclosing all of Zones F and J.

The walls stand 5.2 metres high and consist of pre-cast reinforced concrete elements stacked two blocks high, with footings extending within the prison perimeter. The external face is strengthened by concrete buttresses positioned at the junction of each pre-cast element. Some sections retain a splayed render finish on the external face. The external walls are capped with tubular coping, whilst the internal walls dividing the zones are topped with razor wire.

Inside the perimeter walls and offset from them are weldmesh security fences supported on timber and steel posts set into concrete strip foundations, creating inertia or sterile areas. These fences formerly carried movement sensors, now removed. Inertia areas run along the inside of all perimeter walls and the dividing walls between Zones F and J.

The east and south walls of Zone F contain the main vehicular airlock entrances between zones (designated G4 and G8), comprising hydraulically controlled weldmesh vehicular and pedestrian gates with secondary National Institutional Prison Service (NIPS) observation towers. These towers are steel-framed structures clad in profiled metal sheets with internal ladder access to viewing platforms offering 360-degree views. Some sections cantilever the perimeter wall, and lower lean-to structures house the hydraulic machinery. Four similar secondary NIPS towers are located in Zone F2, with one retaining earlier corrugated sheet cladding.

The only vehicular entrance to Maze Cellular itself is located in the north perimeter wall of Zone F1, comprising a hydraulically operated sliding steel door flanked by a pedestrian gate. An adjacent similar gate provides access to the visitors block only.

Primary army-manned watch towers are positioned on the outside of the perimeter wall, with four abutting or immediately adjacent to the walls of Zones F and J. These comprise tall steel-framed towers of square plan topped by observation platforms of smaller square plan, accessed by internal steel staircases via floor hatches. Steel frame windows with central sliding elements are present on all four sides, with gun mounting points on the window sills.

The perimeter walls were constructed in phases corresponding to the development of Maze Cellular. The earliest section, east of Zone J, dates from Phase 1 Cellular construction (circa 1975). The northern section east of Zones F1 and F2 dates from Phase 2 Cellular construction (circa 1976). The north and west walls of Zone F2, together with the west and south walls of Zone J and the wall dividing Zones J and F2, all date from Phase 3 Cellular construction (circa 1976 to 1977). The towers associated with each wall are contemporary with their related sections. The main entrances to Zone F1 were constructed circa 1985 to 1986 as replacement entrances, replacing a single earlier entrance in the north perimeter wall of Zone F2, now blocked. The airlocks, inertia areas, and inter-zone gates date from the construction phases to which they relate.