Robert Adam - Edinburgh Bridewell - Castle Style Scheme 2 -As Built

This design consists of three separate main blocks, each with an entrance gate, within an arrangement of exercise yards contained within a perimeter wall. The two side blocks or wing buildings mirror each other about the North-South axis of the larger central block. The symmetrical geometric arrangement of the exercise yards and the perimeter wall is reminiscent of drawings of Renaissance forts.

Bridewell

Design Drawings in Sir John Soane's Museum

Fig1. Ground Floor Plan. The regular idealised form of this plan suggests that this is an early proposal, not designed for a specific site. The idealised plan form echoes Renaissance plans for fortifications. Looking at the design in this abstract way would have allowed an easier analysis of the requirements and possibilities for the disposition of the courtyards around the building.

Fig 2. Roof Plan. There are rooflights over the central half cylinder atrium space of the main prison block, as well as over the corridor between the outer and inner rows of cells. There is are no rooflights or indeed roof shown over the courtyard to the two side blocks. In this case the cells, opening to galleries around the courtyards would have been very cold in winter.

Fig 3. North Elevation. The centre block is the main prison. The wing buildings are a Bedlam (lunatic asylum) on the left and Debtors jail on the right. These are linked into the composition by the high perimeter and courtyard walls. The turrets of the wing blocks are visual references to the nearby Palace of Holyrood House.

Fig 4. South Elevation. The half cylinder cell block is immediately reminiscent of elements of other Castle Style buildings by Adam in Scotland, such as the drum tower of Culzean Castle. It is also mirrors the great bastion of Edinburgh Castle across the valley.

Fig 5. North South Section. For invisible inspection to work, it is necessary for the observer to be able see into all the cells. In this design the inspection lodge room could only monitor the inner ring of cells. Also the benefit of cross ventilation through the cell block was lost.

Central Block
Of all the drawings that survive, the centre block of this design most closely resembles the Bridewell as built. It is from the design drawings for the exterior of this building that a computer model has been created. Computer visualisation generated from this can be seen at the end of this essay. The centre block is a half cylinder in plan, and has an internal full height light well that is top lit. An inner ring of cells look out into this. These cells, which are the day cells for working in, form tiers of arched openings seperated from the internal space by iron railings only. Being open these rooms could be easily supervised from the inspcetion lodge, at the centre of the have produced a dramatic internal space. The outer ring of cells are the sleeping cells. Between the two rows of cells is an internal top lit corridor.

On the North side (towards the bottom edge in these drawings) of the centre block and accessed by a stair leading up from the entrance courtyard, is the Governor's House. This is a substantial building. This design shows two separate apartments, with mirrored dining and drawing rooms on either side of the central corridor, presumably for a Prison Governor and Deputy.

The Governor's House is linked to the main jail by a connecting corridor that also contains a primary staircase (probably intended for staff only) linking all floors of the building.

From the South landing of this stair each level of the Inspection Lodge with its semicircular wall facing the ring of cells, is accessed. The Inspection Lodge is an implementation of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon concepts in this design. From the Inspection Lodge an observer at any level can maintain invisible supervision of two levels of the inner ring of cells, which were intended for prisoners to work in during the day, with several prisoners in each. The outer ring contains sleeping cells for single prisoners. The corridor between, marked on the plan "passage between the sleeping and working cells", curves around with the cell block, terminating on the North side in what appears to be a toilet without a door, presumably for turnkeys. The windows of the Inspection Lodge splay out from a narrow slit on the observers side, to allow maximum angle for viewing cells from each window position. The intention would have been to keep the inside of the Lodge in darkness so that "invisible inspection" could be maintained. Again the design of these windows is crude in comparison to the later designs.

It should be noted that while this arrangement is clearly derived from Bentham's Panopticon, it does not fully implement the Panopticon concept, which required that all cells be visible from the Inspection Lodge. The double ring of cells separated by a corridor also compromises his idea that cross ventilation was essential for health. This was particularly since the doors to the corridor from the inner and outer cells were not opposite each other. None the less it was an arrangement very similar to this that was built. The various faults were reported in a letter to Bentham from Samuel Romilly who visited the building under construction in 1793.

On either side of the link section, projecting North from the main cell block, are yet more cells, bringing the total number at each level in the centre block to 36 sleeping and 13 working cells. The section shows five levels, but a report of the building in use mentions that the upper level was used as a hospital and for storage.

The arrangement of the stairs in this version of the Bridewell design is awkward and confirms that this is a preliminary design drawing. Each floor of the cell block and the Governor's House are at roughly the same level, but the Inspection Lodge floors are set half a level below to allow two levels of cells to be supervised from one level of the Inspection Lodge. The main staff stair mentioned above therefore has to have half landings at the level of the Inspection Lodge floor, but then an additional set of stairs, wrapping around the Inspection Lodge, is required to give access back up to the main cell block floor level. This "down-then-up" arrangement of a main circulation route is very awkward and is dropped in later designs. In this design there is yet another set of stairs on either side, intended for prisoners, by which they are taken down into the basement and thence via a subterranean passage to the exercise yards on the South side of the building. There is no drawing showing this passage for this design, but the intention can be assumed from the steps leading up around the Inspection lodge to the South. A similar arrangement is used in Castle Style Scheme 3 and Castle Style Scheme 4.

The roof plan (Fig 2) for this design shows rooflights over the five-storey full height half-cylindrical space between the inspection lodge and the inner ring of cells. There are also rooflights over the corrridor between the inner and outer ring of cells, and the section (Fig. 5 & 7) shows openings at each floor level below these. Presumably these would have been grated over and the intention was to allow some natural light to reach the lowest corridor, though light levels here would have been very low.

At the level of the lowest tier of cells, curved pews are shown and there is a pulpit accessed by stairs that follow the curve of the wall of the inspection lodge cylinder. It was from the pulpit that prisoners in the central block were to be given their moral instruction, not apparently while occupying the pews, which were to be for visitors, but listening from within the inner ring of cells.

The Wing Blocks
The East wing is for Bedlamites (lunatics) and the West for debtors. Each wing has its own separate entrance gate, with a ramp leading down to a walled entrance courtyard. Each of the wing blocks is divided into two halves by a wall running east west, separating male and female inmates. Within each is an internal courtyard with galleries, off which the cells open. It is not clear if the courtyard was intended to be glazed over. The roof plan appears to show the courtyard open to the sky, which would have made the cells very cold in winter.

Fig 8. Plan of Debtor's Jail, detail of Fig 1 above. The Bedlam was a mirror image of this plan. The wall running between the North and South halves of the building separates male and female prisoners, and is taken across the galleried courtyard and even through the chapel, but not the pulpit! The entrance portico can be seen on the East side.

At the corners of each block is a circular turret, which seem to have been intended to echo the turrets of the Palace of Holyrood House to the South East, visible from the site. (See the essay Holyrood Gates and a Fortified Bridge) In each wing block two of these turrets contain spiral stairs. In the Bedlam the other two turrets are marked for nurses and in the Debtors Jail appear to be cells. At roof level the turrets terminate in a conical roof which also provides a shelter for a guard or sentry post.

Wing Block Chapel. The plan of both wing blocks shows a semicircular chapel located on the external (perimeter wall) side. Internally each chapel has a curious arrangement whereby the space itself is divided in two (presumably to separate male and female inmates) but the preacher from his pulpit can see and simultaneously address both audiences. It should be noted that neither the North nor the South elevations (Figures 3 and 4) show the chapels. This is perhaps another indication that these are early drawings, in a state of flux, or possibly that there was another design, the drawings for which are now lost.

Perimeter Wall, Entrance Gates and Exercise Yards
Gatehouses on the North side provide access to the different parts of the complex. The two side gatehouses are for the Bedlam (lunatic asylum) to the East and the Debtors prison for men and women to the West. The central gatehouse provides access to the main prison and Governor's House. By having separate access, separate buildings and separate exercise yards, the main division of different classes of inmates, Debtors, Felons and Bedlams, never came in contact with each other. "Felons" could therefore not exercise any influence over other types of prisoners. The different exercise yards to the South of the main block, for Youth, Women and Men, show that the premise of this design was that there would be a further sub-division of the classes of prisoners housed in this block.

Main Gate
The centre gatehouse, marked "Main Gate and Lodge to the Bridewell" leads to a walled courtyard. From this a pair of curved formal steps lead up to a landing outside the main entrance to the Governor's house. While not shown on this plan, the front elevation (Fig 3) and North-South Section (Fig 5) show an arched doorway below this, with steps leading down to a basement area. It was presumably by this that all prisoners except debtors or bedlamites were to be admitted to the central prison block. At the basement level they would be at the same level as the lowest ring of cells.

Fig 9. Plan of "Main Gate and Lodge to the Bridewell". Detail of Fig 1 above. Off the central "Hall and Guardroom" is the parlour and on the South side a "Fumigatory room". Between these a stair gives access to the upper level. On the right opposite, is a room marked "Washouse"

Side Gates
The side gates are drawn as mirror images of each other. The West Side gate is marked "Gate and Lodge to Prison", the East Side Gate is marked "Gate and Lodge to Bedlam".

Fig 10. Plan of "Gate and Lodge to Prison". Detail of Fig 1 above. The side gates consist of two castellated towers linked by a screen wall. A second curved wall behind forms an entrance courtyard. A turnstile gives access to the ramp leading down to the Debtors Jail, allowing a count to be kept.

"Cottages" for Chaplain and Surgeon
Built into the South perimeter wall there are a pair of mirrored buildings each of which is shown with a room for a surgeon and chaplain at the lower level. In each, stairs with a semicircular half landing lead to an upper level. The West cottage has a note that there are to be "4 rooms above for better kind of Debtors", the East that there are to be "4 rooms above for better kind of Lunatics".* These notes suggest that there was probably only ever a ground floor plan of this version of the proposals, another indication that this is a preliminary design. They also give an indication of prevailing social attitudes to class structure at the time.

Apart from their designated purpose, these buildings are used in this design as a means of resolving an awkward junction of several walls in plan. The roof plan shows a pitched roof over and the semicircular staircase wall would have given the building the appearance of a turret or guard house.

Fig 11. Plan of Chaplain and Surgeon "Cottages". Detail of Fig 1 above. The East cottage has a note that there are to be "4 rooms above for better kind of Lunatics", the West is a mirror image with rooms for "a better kind of Debtors". These building are accessed via a walled walk leading from the entrance courtyards of the wing buildings.

Exercise Yards.
Each of the wing blocks has its own male and female exercise courtyards, marked on the plan
Yard for women Maniacs
Yard for men Maniacs
Yard for men Debtors
Yard for women Debtors

These yards have formal classical colonnades around the perimeter, presumably to allow exercise to be carried out under cover in inclement weather. The colonnades are shown in plan but not in elevation / section (Fig. 5). Access is from the entrance courtyards to the wings.

The main block has three exercise yards marked
Yard for Youth
Yard for Women
Yard for Men

Close to the central prison block are gardens for the chaplin, surgeon and governor.

Views of and from all these courtyards can be seen in the computer visualisations below.

Exercise Yards - Computer Reconstructions

Fig 12. View of the Bridewell from the Yard for Women Debtors, looking SouthEast. The view is taken from within the curved colonnade. The central cellblock with its crow-stepped gables can be seen in the background over the wall on the left. The East end of the Debtors Jail with its turrets is on the right

Fig 13. View of the Bridewell Debtors Prison from the Yard for Women Debtors, looking South. The view is taken from the proposed covered colonnade of the yard towards the West End of the Debtors Jail. The end of the colonnade terminates at a cross wall separating the male and female halves of the prison

Fig 14. View of the Bridewell Debtors Prison from the Yard for Men Debtors, looking North. The view is taken from the proposed East colonnade of the yard looking towards the South side of the Debtors Jail. The entrance door to the colonnade can be seen at the far end of this space, opening onto the entrance court.

Fig 15. View of the Bridewell Debtors Prison with the main prison block over the wall in the background on the right. The view is taken from the proposed covered colonnade of the yard, looking North West.

Fig 16. View of The Observation Lodge for the prison yards. This building was an implementation of the Panopticon principal of "invisible inspection" . It allowed a guard to keep watch over all the prisoners in all the yards from one central location, while remaining invisible to them.

Fig 17. Ariel View of Men and Women Felons Exercise Yards. The perimeter wall can also be sen, with the surgeon's and chaplin's cottage built into it (top right). Beyond is the yard and cloister for men bedlams and the Bedlam itself with its turrets.

Fig 18. View of The Observation Lodge with the Cell block behind. The cell block consists of an arcade of twelve blind round headed recessed arches. within each of which are paired windows, on for each cell at each level. A "cornice" is formed by the continuous machicolation around the top of the half cylinder forming the cell block.

General Views

Fig 19. View of The North West Gate from within the prison walls. the Governors Garden, Bridewell Debtors Prison, looking North West. Single corner turrets, very similar to these, were build and can be seen in the illustrations in the Bridewell - As Built essay.

Fig 20. View of The Central Entrance Gate, and entrance courtyards and Governor's House, with the Governor's walled gardens on either side. The Governor's house and main prison block are set in a sunken area, seperated from the gardens by railings.

Fig 21. View of Gate and Ramp leading from West Entrance Gate to Debtors Jail. The architecture is designed to inspire one emotion; fear. The ramp is screened off from the Governors garden (to the left) and the Women Debtors Yard (to the right) by the immense walls.

Fig 22. View of The Surgeons Garden. The Chaplins Garden was a mirrored version of this on the other side of the building. It is not clear what use the Surgeon(s) and Chaplain(s) would have put these curious periferal spaces to. Perhaps it was anticipated that they would be used to grow medicinal herbs or vegetables.

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