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| National Justice Museum lets visitors step on to Britain's last working gallows | National Justice Museum lets visitors step on to Britain's last working gallows |
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| Step on to the trapdoor of the last working gallows and the chasm between justice past and present opens up a dizzying perspective on British crime and punishment. | Step on to the trapdoor of the last working gallows and the chasm between justice past and present opens up a dizzying perspective on British crime and punishment. |
| The National Justice Museum, where the scaffold has been reassembled, is emerging from a £1m refurbishment. Its outreach work – exploring the difference between legality and morality – is spreading across the country. | The National Justice Museum, where the scaffold has been reassembled, is emerging from a £1m refurbishment. Its outreach work – exploring the difference between legality and morality – is spreading across the country. |
| Based in Nottingham’s old courthouse and jail, the Georgian-fronted complex exhibits the Bow Street court dock where Emmeline Pankhurst argued for suffragette rights, an 18th-century birching stool and forensic evidence from the Great Train Robbery. | Based in Nottingham’s old courthouse and jail, the Georgian-fronted complex exhibits the Bow Street court dock where Emmeline Pankhurst argued for suffragette rights, an 18th-century birching stool and forensic evidence from the Great Train Robbery. |
| In the mid-1990s a Reading solicitor, Geoffrey Goldsmith, came up with the idea of establishing a museum of law to preserve its vanishing past. He discovered that the old Shire Hall in Nottingham was derelict. | In the mid-1990s a Reading solicitor, Geoffrey Goldsmith, came up with the idea of establishing a museum of law to preserve its vanishing past. He discovered that the old Shire Hall in Nottingham was derelict. |
| With the former lord chief justice Lord Judge as its honorary patron, and Lady Justice Macur, who is pioneering the introduction of online courts, as president, the newly rebranded institution is developing into a significant source of legal and historical influence. | With the former lord chief justice Lord Judge as its honorary patron, and Lady Justice Macur, who is pioneering the introduction of online courts, as president, the newly rebranded institution is developing into a significant source of legal and historical influence. |
| Courts have been held on the site since the 1300s. Prisons cells, public executions, a police station and magistrates court have all operated from the building. The last crown court hearings in 1986 involved offences from the miners’ strike. | Courts have been held on the site since the 1300s. Prisons cells, public executions, a police station and magistrates court have all operated from the building. The last crown court hearings in 1986 involved offences from the miners’ strike. |
| Initially launched as the Galleries of Justice, the museum has gradually absorbed other collections and expanded its mission. Fortified with a £1m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it has reopened as the National Justice Museum. | Initially launched as the Galleries of Justice, the museum has gradually absorbed other collections and expanded its mission. Fortified with a £1m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it has reopened as the National Justice Museum. |
| The outreach work, staging costume reenactments of famous trials and debates about social justice, is now also held at the Royal Courts of Justice, the Rolls Building in London, and Manchester crown court. Events are open to school groups, students and the wider public. Tim Desmond, the museum’s chief executive, plans to expand sessions to Barkingside magistrates court in Essex and Reading crown court. | The outreach work, staging costume reenactments of famous trials and debates about social justice, is now also held at the Royal Courts of Justice, the Rolls Building in London, and Manchester crown court. Events are open to school groups, students and the wider public. Tim Desmond, the museum’s chief executive, plans to expand sessions to Barkingside magistrates court in Essex and Reading crown court. |
| The museum contains artefacts accumulated from centuries of criminal justice. Oscar Wilde’s lime-green cell door from Reading jail, owned by the museum, is on loan to the Tate Britain exhibition, ”Queer British Art”. | The museum contains artefacts accumulated from centuries of criminal justice. Oscar Wilde’s lime-green cell door from Reading jail, owned by the museum, is on loan to the Tate Britain exhibition, ”Queer British Art”. |
| The last working gallows in Britain was preserved in working order at Wandsworth prison and tested regularly into the early 1990s; the death penalty remained a theoretical possibility for treason, piracy with violence and mutiny in the armed forces until then. It has been rebuilt. Visitors can stand on the trap door above what would have been a 3.6-metre (12ft) fatal drop. | The last working gallows in Britain was preserved in working order at Wandsworth prison and tested regularly into the early 1990s; the death penalty remained a theoretical possibility for treason, piracy with violence and mutiny in the armed forces until then. It has been rebuilt. Visitors can stand on the trap door above what would have been a 3.6-metre (12ft) fatal drop. |
| A nearby glass cabinet holds a two-thirds empty bottle of Teacher’s Highland Cream from which the condemned were permitted a final tot. “You would think they would have given them the whole bottle,” Desmond observed. “They could choose brandy or whisky. It was a nip to steady the prisoner’s nerves.” | A nearby glass cabinet holds a two-thirds empty bottle of Teacher’s Highland Cream from which the condemned were permitted a final tot. “You would think they would have given them the whole bottle,” Desmond observed. “They could choose brandy or whisky. It was a nip to steady the prisoner’s nerves.” |
| There is a black executions box that hangmen used to transport equipment to prisons around the country. It includes a measuring rod, chalk, a sand bag, restraining straps, ropes and a block and tackle. | There is a black executions box that hangmen used to transport equipment to prisons around the country. It includes a measuring rod, chalk, a sand bag, restraining straps, ropes and a block and tackle. |
| Ropes would be stretched the night before to ensure the prisoner’s neck was broken so that he, or she, did not die from slow strangulation. Among those executed on the Wandsworth gallows were the Nazi broadcaster William Joyce in 1946 and the posthumously pardoned burglar Derek Bentley in 1953. | Ropes would be stretched the night before to ensure the prisoner’s neck was broken so that he, or she, did not die from slow strangulation. Among those executed on the Wandsworth gallows were the Nazi broadcaster William Joyce in 1946 and the posthumously pardoned burglar Derek Bentley in 1953. |
| “Over the years we have expanded and obtained HM Prison Service’s collection,” Desmond explained. “We have also acquired the [metal trellis] dock from Bow Street magistrates court in which Wilde, Roger Casement, the Kray twins, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, Dr Crippen and even Jeffrey Archer once appeared.” | “Over the years we have expanded and obtained HM Prison Service’s collection,” Desmond explained. “We have also acquired the [metal trellis] dock from Bow Street magistrates court in which Wilde, Roger Casement, the Kray twins, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, Dr Crippen and even Jeffrey Archer once appeared.” |
| More than a decade after its closure, the Bow Street magistrates court building in Covent Garden, central London, is scheduled to reopen as a boutique hotel. The slow pace of redevelopment highlights the difficulties of preserving the architectural history of hundreds of courtrooms closed by Ministry of Justice economies and the fall in reported crime. | More than a decade after its closure, the Bow Street magistrates court building in Covent Garden, central London, is scheduled to reopen as a boutique hotel. The slow pace of redevelopment highlights the difficulties of preserving the architectural history of hundreds of courtrooms closed by Ministry of Justice economies and the fall in reported crime. |
| Desmond said: “Our warning is that heritage buildings cost a lot of money to maintain. It has been a real labour of love to make the Nottingham museum sustainable.” One of the museum’s most prominent supporters has been the former justice secretary and local MP Ken Clarke. | Desmond said: “Our warning is that heritage buildings cost a lot of money to maintain. It has been a real labour of love to make the Nottingham museum sustainable.” One of the museum’s most prominent supporters has been the former justice secretary and local MP Ken Clarke. |
| Force-feeding equipment used on suffragettes and a bronze statue from the mother and baby unit at the demolished Holloway women’s prison have recently been acquired. | Force-feeding equipment used on suffragettes and a bronze statue from the mother and baby unit at the demolished Holloway women’s prison have recently been acquired. |
| The exhibits highlight shifts over time in attitudes towards penal reform. There are 18th-century leg irons and elaborate measuring jugs for imposing restricted diets on those who did not complete hard labour tasks. | The exhibits highlight shifts over time in attitudes towards penal reform. There are 18th-century leg irons and elaborate measuring jugs for imposing restricted diets on those who did not complete hard labour tasks. |
| Forensic evidence from the Great Train Robbery includes watches, combat jackets, keys for a getaway Land Rover and the Monopoly game the gang played while hiding out after the 1963 heist. | Forensic evidence from the Great Train Robbery includes watches, combat jackets, keys for a getaway Land Rover and the Monopoly game the gang played while hiding out after the 1963 heist. |
| One of the trials reenacted in the museum’s imposing, wood-panelled court is that of Daniel Diggle, a 21-year-old Luddite agitator and knitting-frame breaker who was convicted 200 years ago for a shooting a woollen manufacturer. Diggle was hanged on 2 April 1817 outside Nottingham Shire Hall. | One of the trials reenacted in the museum’s imposing, wood-panelled court is that of Daniel Diggle, a 21-year-old Luddite agitator and knitting-frame breaker who was convicted 200 years ago for a shooting a woollen manufacturer. Diggle was hanged on 2 April 1817 outside Nottingham Shire Hall. |
| Later this year the museum will stage an exhibition about the playwright Joe Orton to mark the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. Orton was imprisoned for defacing library books as a prank. Many of his plays, such as Loot, feature criminal themes. | Later this year the museum will stage an exhibition about the playwright Joe Orton to mark the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. Orton was imprisoned for defacing library books as a prank. Many of his plays, such as Loot, feature criminal themes. |
| In her youth, Lady Justice Macur used to appear in the museum’s crown court as a junior barrister. Opening the National Justice Museum, she said its collection of more than 40,000 objects would “engage children, young people and families in the law, both contemporary and historic”. | In her youth, Lady Justice Macur used to appear in the museum’s crown court as a junior barrister. Opening the National Justice Museum, she said its collection of more than 40,000 objects would “engage children, young people and families in the law, both contemporary and historic”. |
| A venerable institution, the Shire Hall displays an earlier review. The prison reformer John Howard visited in 1777 on a national tour of prisons. “This gaol,” he recorded, “has been lately repainted and much improved. [But warnings against] spirituous liquors [are] not hung up.” | A venerable institution, the Shire Hall displays an earlier review. The prison reformer John Howard visited in 1777 on a national tour of prisons. “This gaol,” he recorded, “has been lately repainted and much improved. [But warnings against] spirituous liquors [are] not hung up.” |