Durham Prison and Mary

Durham Prison was built in 1810 replacing an earlier construction in the Great North Gate, it is of classic Victorian construction and received its first inmates in 1819.

Last year was the fiftieth anniversary since the abolition of capital punishment and coincidentally also the 150^th anniversary of the abolition of public executions.

Before 1816 the place of execution in Durham was within the grounds of the present day Dryburn Hospital (which may have been named after a Jesuit Priest who was executed there)

The drop style gallows were introduced as standard practice in August 1816 to induce a quicker more humane death to the convict than strangulation at the new site for public executions, outside the courthouse. A platform was purpose built for each execution one story up, the convict was led to the Gallows from within the court house and accessed the gantry from a first floor window. Blanked post holes for the platform constructions can still be seen above the main door.

Red arrows point to the now blanked post holes.

On the 29^th May 1868 public hanging was abolished with the introduction of the Capital Punishment Amendment Act. All executions should now take place within the grounds of the Prison.

Officials present at an execution; Sheriff or Under-sheriff, The Prison Governor, The Prison Doctor and other prison officials as necessary. At the discretion of both the  Coroner and the Sheriff of the County, newspaper reporters and other witnesses may be admitted to view the execution.

Mary was one of three women hanged at Durham Jail between 1800 and 1958.

The Gallows was a simple three timber design and built at ground level over a pre-existing brick lined pit in the condemned convicts exercise yard. Because Mary was of the fairer sex it was originally planned that Mary would be hung sitting down and the pit was specially widened for this purpose.
It is not known why she stood for the execution (who decided that she should not sit, could the absence of weight and difference in height explain why the execution was botched as it was.  Rumor was that it was botched on purpose).

The hangman owned the clothes that the condemned stood in to be hanged, he also owned the executioners rope and for notorious prisoners the rope would be sold by the inch hence the saying money for old rope. Once executed the convict was buried in unhallowed ground within the prison walls wearing a prison shirt

During modernisation in the early 1990’s a number of executed inmate’s graves within the prison grounds were disturbed. Mary Ann Cotton’s remains, found along with a pair of her shoes, were amongst them. Her body along with several others was removed from the prison and cremated.

http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/durham.html

https://lastdyingwords.wordpress.com/2015/11/05/dreams-death-durham/

https://lastdyingwords.wordpress.com/tag/execution-yard/

The exercise yard where executions took place.