Hexham House of Correction

Introduction

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The first Houses of Correction were set up in Tudor times. They continued in use well into the 19th Century, suggesting they answered a social need. John Howard, the great prison reform campaigner, certainly believed they were an improvement on 18th Century gaols. Over the centuries their role changed from a place to train vagrants to a lock-up for petty criminals who were not to be exposed to the more hardened prisoners in gaol.

In 1783 it was reported that a house near Tyne Green was to be leased from Isabella Bell as a House of Correction. This had followed regular and repeated calls for a House of Correction in Hexham from 1712 to 1783. An advertisement was placed in the Newcastle Courant for a Keeper. Joseph Dagleas was appointed, and the House of Correction opened in 1784.