| Abstract: |
Evaluation:
The fieldwork comprised the excavation of 9 trenches. Trenches 3 and 4 were located to specifically target anunusual kink in the north-eastern boundary wall that might relate to an earlier
feature. Due to the inability to excavate either of these trenches to close to the
prison boundary wall, an additional trench was excavated (Tr 6). Furthermore,
restrictions of space on site meant that Trench 4 had to be excavated in two phases,
labelled as Trench 4 and 4.1. During part of the demolition of the suite some sub
surface features were uncovered within the centre of the site. This area was
recorded as part of the evaluation and labelled Trench 5. A number of trenches (Tr
7, 8 and 9) subsequently excavated during groundworks associated with the
development, were also monitored and recorded.
Building recording: The work on site was carried out during two visits on the 13th and 14th of March
2014, conditions on both visits were dry and mostly bright. Major Demolition and
construction work had not yet begun on the site, except that the Laundry building
had been cleaned of asbestos.
Historic documents, especially historic maps and site plans, were consulted to give a
documented chronology to the changes seen in the fabric.
The site and some building plans and elevations were provided by DSPCM Ltd and
modified and annotated by CA. In addition, CA carried out an REDM survey of the
Laundry building supplemented by hand measurement. The basement rooms were
already plotted on the DSPCM surveys but more detailed measurements were
taken.
The photographic record consisted of digital photographs of the interior, exterior and
structural and architectural details, taken with a Canon 24Mp SLR camera,
supplemented with a Panasonic 14Mp pocket camera. Evaluation: An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in April-July 2014 at
Longfield Place, Plymouth, Devon. Nine trenches were excavated, uncovering elements of
the former Greenbank Prison, which was constructed on the site in 1849.
The evaluation revealed the disturbed remnants of a number of basement cells within the
former south-western wing of the prison, part of a panopticon that formed part of the
exercise yard and a section of the original prison boundary wall. While there was some
suggestion that the line of the Plymouth Civil War defences may have run across the site,
the earliest artefacts dated to between the 14th to mid 18th century. While these artefacts
suggest occupation of the site prior to the construction of the prison, no features or deposits
of an earlier date were uncovered during the evaluation.
Building Recording: Plymouth Prison was built on a new site in 1849 by Fuller and Gingell at the beginning of
their distinguished careers. It remained a prison until c. 1930. The site of the men’s exercise
yard was built over as a laundry for the nearby City Hospitals (Greenbank Hospital) by 1933
and the prison wings were converted into police headquarters, magistrates courts and an
ambulance station by 1935. A fire station was built on the southern quarter of the prison
enclosure at this time (since rebuilt), resulting in the first and major loss of prison boundary
wall, although the stretch along Longfield Road had been rebuilt on a new alignment
between 1893 and 1907. The police moved out in 1976 and the south-eastern wing they had
occupied was taken over by the NHS. They moved out in the early 1990s and the other
services also left at aroud this time, except for the fire service, who still remain on site. An
assessment in 1996 showed the complex was in good condition (but not including the
laundry which was not included in the assessment), but it has since deteriorated to the
extent that the interiors are completely derelict and in parlous structural condition. |
