Banged up

We spent the afternoon at our area's latest tourist attraction - Peterhead Convict Prison. Peterhead Convict Prison was built around 1888 and closed in 2013, to be replaced by the new HMP Grampian, the first prison in Scotland to jointly house youths, men and women. The old prison is now a museum. The convicts supplied the labour force to work in nearby Stirlinghill Quarry and in the Admiralty Yard attached to the prison. They supported the work of a civilian labour force employed by the Admiralty to construct the Harbour of Refuge breakwater. Later the prison was used to house some of the most notorious criminals in Scotland in very "uncomfortable" conditions. The main photograph is D wing, the scene in 1987 of a major riot by the prisoners which was eventually brought to an end by the SAS.

#thursday #afternoon #museum #july #prison #peterhead #convicts #harbour-refuge #admiralty