A fascinating academic study by Professor Steve Poole, UWE, © University of the West of England


This case study considers an important escalation in the activities of the crowd on the second day of the riots in Bristol on Sunday, 30 October 1831. It begins by framing the events in Bristol in the context of the ‘great excarceration’ of Newgate prison during the Gordon riots of 1780 in London. In the second section the design and operation of the New Gaol in Bristol is examined along with the daily routines of prisoners and the perceptions of outsiders. The third and fourth sections consider in detail the prelude, the attack on the Bridewell gaol, and the assault on the New Gaol respectively. 

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