page_title: HM Prison Shepton Mallet
section_title: History prior to the Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: HM Prison Shepton Mallet / History prior to the Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Photos of HMP Shepton Mallet taken March 2018
context_page_description: HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a former prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. When it closed in 2013, it was the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison, and had been since the closure of HMP Lancaster Castle in 2011. Before closure Shepton Mallet was a category C lifer prison holding 189 prisoners. The prison building is grade II* listed, while the former gatehouse and perimeter walls are grade II.
  The prison was opened before 1625 but was already in poor repair by the end of the First English Civil War in 1646. It was expanded in 1790 but conditions were again criticised in a report of 1822 and further building work was undertaken in the 1820s and 1830s. This included the installation of a treadwheel for those sentenced to hard labour. In 1843 the number of cells was increased by adding a second storey to each wing. The prison was damaged during a fire in 1904. In 1930 the number of inmates had fallen and the prison was closed.
  Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 the prison was reopened as a military prison.
caption: The exercise yard
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