Grovier, Kelly

The gaol : the story of Newgate, London's most notorious prison / Kelly Grovier - London : John Murray , 2008. - xviii, 332 p. : ill., maps, plans ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 295-316) and index.

For over 800 years Newgate was the grimy axel around which British society slowly twisted. This is where such legendary outlaws as Robin Hood and Captain Kidd met their fates, where the rapier-wielding playwrights Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe sharpened their quills, and where flamboyant highwaymen like Claude Duval and James Maclaine made legions of women swoon. While Londons theatres came and went, the gaol endured as Londons unofficial stage. From the Peasants Revolt to the Great Fire, it was at Newgate that Englands greatest dramas unfolded.nbsp;By piecing together the lives of forgotten figures as well as re-examining the prisons links with more famous individuals, from Dick Whittington to Charles Dickens, this thrilling history goes in search of a ghostly place, erased by time, which has inspired more poems and plays, paintings and novels, than any other structure in British history.

9780719561320

2008383453

014589564 Uk


Newgate (Prison : London, England)----History


Prisons----History----England----London
Crime---History---England---18th century
Criminals----History


London (England)----History

HV9650.L7 / G76 2008

365 GRO