COUNTY GAOL AND HOUSES OF CORRECTION

The starting-point of these records was the reform and rebuilding of the county gaol and houses of correction, 1785-90. A simple series of books to be kept by visiting justices, governors, chaplains and surgeons was prescribed in the rules approved by Quarter Sessions in 1790. A new and more elaborate series was introduced under Quarter Sessions rules of 1844.

The county gaol, like other prisons, was transferred to the Prison Commissioners in 1878. The houses of correction remained under the control of Quarter Sessions, since by 1860 they had become merely 'houses of remand' and so were outside the scope of the Prisons Act, 1877. The variety of records kept was considerably reduced by their change in status and only Littledean produced any later than 1878.