Portland, Prison Entrance 1898
Photo ref:
41146
Photo ref:
41146
More about this scene
Portland prison was a grim institution during Victoria's reign, with convicts spending long days breaking stone in the nearby quarries with pickaxe and crowbar. Well-behaved prisoners were allowed the privilege of maintaining the prison gardens.
An extract from Dorset Photographic Memories.
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Dorset Photographic Memories
The photo 'Portland, Prison Entrance 1898' appears in this book.
View BookA Selection of Memories from Portland
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Portland
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This picture does not show Castletown, or the convict prison. It does show Chiswell in the foreground, and Fortuneswell on the hillside. The Great Verne Citadel (not a prison then) is hidden on the hilltop, left.
Thank you for the correction - we have now updated our database!
Regarding the name of Church Ope in this photograph: it's a common misapprehension that when Portlanders say "Ope" they're dropping their aitches - not so. Ope is a proper word mening 'opening to the sea' and occurs in Church Ope, Big Ope etc.
When old farmer used to have fields down bottom of Pound Piece he used to make hut out of hay bundles of hay. Now they have built houses on it, and when the farmer used to have cows in the field next to Park estate road now house are built there too. And I remember the picture palace down Easton Square and the pavilon in Easton Gardens where the bands used to play. The old picture palace is gone and houses are ...see more
I was born in 1950 and my first home was the flat beside the Regal cinema in Fortuneswell, Portland where my dad, Bob Mutch, was the projectionist. In 1953 we moved to Coronation Road on the Verne Common estate.
I attended Brackenbury infant school, the Cliff School (juniors) and finally Portland County Secondary School leaving in 1967. Unfortunately none of these appear in the photos.
My very first ...see more
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