New Prison
NEW PRISON, 16, GROVE STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396120
- Date first listed:
- 01-Jun-1950
- List Entry Name:
- New Prison
- Statutory Address:
- NEW PRISON, 16, GROVE STREET
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396120
- Date first listed:
- 01-Jun-1950
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 15-Oct-2010
- List Entry Name:
- New Prison
- Statutory Address 1:
- NEW PRISON, 16, GROVE STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- NEW PRISON, 16, GROVE STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 75195 65147
Details
GROVE STREET 656-1/0/0 (East side) No.16 New Prison 12/06/50
GV II
Prison, now apartments. 1772-1773 converted C20. By Thomas Warr Atwood. Builder: Richard Jones, an assistant to Ralph Allen. MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar, roof unseen, with truncated stacks to returns. PLAN: Double depth plan with rear additions. EXTERIOR: Four storeys (originally three storeys and basement, road level has been lowered and former basement, now ground floor), symmetrical five-window range. End bays step slightly forward, slightly returned balustraded parapet, modillion cornice, moulded former first floor sill course, stepped former ground floor platband floor, deeply chamfered rustication to the former ground floor, basement platband, moulded architraves to nine-pane windows to former second floor. Six/six-pane sash windows with moulded architraves and pediments on shaped consoles to centre and sides of former first floor, flank similar windows with cornices, radial voussoirs to former ground floor with impost cornices to semicircular arched recesses to centre and sides that flank flat arches, six/six-pane sash windows. Former basement, now ground floor, has segmental arches to six/three-pane sashes and run out chamfered arises to plain opening and C20 door. Returns are plain. INTERIOR: Not inspected; much altered. HISTORY: Robert Adam prepared plans for this building in 1771, but the Corporation opted to employ its own architect, Thomas Warr Atwood, instead. His stolid Palladian design was outwardly dignified but internally ill-suited to its task. The site was ill-chosen, as the basement floor was prone to flooding. The foundation stone for the prison was laid in 1772 by the mayor. It was completed in 1774 and stood on its own amid fields until the surrounding Bathwick Estate began to be built up in the 1780s. The building originally had the entrance hall on the first floor, reached via an imposing flight of balustraded steps either side of an arch: the subsequent altering of the street level of Grove Street did away with these steps. The prison was originally for debtors and had comfortable rooms on the ground floor, with cells for the more criminal in the basement; a block of solitary cells was constructed behind in the courtyard. A new prison was opened in Twerton in 1842, rendering Atwood's gaol superfluous. The building was subsequently converted into use as flats in c1975, having served variously as a police barracks, a tenement building, and a hostel for the homeless. SOURCES: (W. Ison, `The Georgian Buildings of Bath' (1980 ed.), 86; Chris Noble: 'The new Gaol in Bathwick', Bath History IX (2002), p64-86).
Listing NGR: ST7519565147
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 511534
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 30-Jun-2026 at 01:31:35.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.