Derby Gaol

Derby Gaol was not a prison but a Georgian Gaol. More like being on remand you were only kept here until the trial. Then either whipped at the carts tail till your back is bloody, branded with a letter T for thief, transported or hanged.

When it opened in 1756 there was no segregation between old or young, male or female, tried or untried, sane or insane. You would be murdered for the coat off your back.

It was a place of terror, torment, pain, anguish, torture, execution, suicide and death. 56 people were hanged from this Gaol. The inmates of this jail were terrified of ghosts while they were in there. Proof of this are the number of witch marks scratched on the doors of their cells, to stop evil spirits (ghosts) from coming in.

In 1820 the Gaol was bursting at the seams and there were six prisoners in each cell for 23 hours a day with a bucket.

A new county prison was built eight minutes walk away. Still preserved is the wall of this prison with the dead room and execution room and a very haunted Martello tower with Stone spiral staircase leading to the top.

Ghosts abound in both locations!