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DAN JONES: For me, a great British castle
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00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:08,120
is a fortress, a palace, a home.
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00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,600
And a symbol of power,
majesty, and fear.
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00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:17,360
For nearly a thousand years,
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00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,400
castles have shaped
Britain's famous landscape.
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00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,360
These magnificent buildings
have been home
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to some of the greatest heroes
and villains in our national history.
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00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,400
And many of them
still stand proudly today
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bursting with incredible stories
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00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,720
of warfare, treachery,
intrigue, passion and murder.
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00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,320
Join me, Dan Jones,
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00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,000
as I uncover the secrets
behind six great British castles.
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00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,560
This time I'm in Lancaster Castle,
in the heart of Northern England.
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00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,360
A castle which also houses
one of the oldest jails
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and criminal courts in the land.
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Hundreds of people have died here
at Lancaster,
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not in battles and in sieges,
but in the name of British justice.
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JONES: It's not everyday you find
an abandoned 19th century prison,
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in the middle of a medieval castle.
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There's something that feels
eerily familiar about it though.
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It looks almost like a 1970's sitcom.
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Feels like I'm Ronnie Barker in Porridge.
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Norman Stanley Fletcher,
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you've pleaded guilty to the charges
brought by this court.
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It's now my duty to pass sentence.
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For most of its history,
imprisonment here was very real.
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And this place was deadly serious.
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The castle gained Lancaster the nickname
of "The Hanging Town."
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Although it began life as
a bristling medieval fortress,
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over the centuries,
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the castle became one of Britain's
busiest and most brutal prisons.
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As well as a prison,
the castle also contained a court
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where people came to be tried, punished,
and to die.
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Today Lancaster Castle tells us
the stories of more than
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eight hundred years
of crime and punishment.
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And none is more famous than the trial
that took place in the 20th century.
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Following one of the worst terrorist
attacks ever seen on mainland Britain,
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the bombing of two pubs in Birmingham.
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MALE REPORTER: The tavern
in the town of Mulberry Bush
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on the night of November the 21st, 1974.
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Twenty-one people dead.
More than a 160 injured
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as the bombs went off.
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In June 1975, one of the most
notorious trials in British history
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began right here at the Crown Port
in the heart of Lancaster Castle.
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MALE REPORTER: According to the Crown,
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the men planted their bombs
in the rotunda...
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JONES: In the dock
were a group of Northern Irishmen,
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accused of carrying out
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what was then the worst attack on
British soil since the Second World War.
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00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:26,160
The Birmingham pub bombings
which killed 21 and injured 182
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00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,520
were the latest in a string of bombings
that had occurred across the country,
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and they were suspected to be the work
of the IRA.
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MAN: Six people have been charged
as a result of...
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Like so many of the trials
that took place here,
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the case of the Birmingham Six
would be controversial.
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JONES: While they were on trial,
the Birmingham Six
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were held in Lancaster Castle cells.
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The country was living in daily fear
of terrorism.
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But the Birmingham Six were innocent.
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For three months they were taken
back and forth from these cells
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00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,880
to the castle's courtroom,
knowing that they had nothing to do
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00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,040
with the murderous attacks
that had rocked the UK.
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MAN: Within two days, four of the six men
had signed confessions.
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Confessions which they said were
brutally beaten out of them by police.
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JONES: These confessions would
strongly influence the verdict.
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As a result on the 15th of August 1975,
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they were found guilty
here at Lancaster Castle.
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They were given a total
of 21 life sentences for murder.
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But they were not guilty.
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They all served 16 years
in British prisons
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before their convictions
were overturned in 1991.
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The trial was one of
the worst miscarriages of justice
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in modern British history,
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and it happened right here
in Lancaster Castle.
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JONES: The story of Lancaster Castle
goes back over 2000 years.
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The first people to build here
were the Romans.
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In 43 AD the Romans conquered Britain,
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but in the North they had constant trouble
from local tribes.
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00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,320
To cement their rule
they built a vast network of forts,
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including the one here in Lancaster.
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00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,320
In fact the name Lancaster,
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comes from the River Lune
and castrum, the Latin word for fort.
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The remains of that ancient Roman fort,
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still lie underneath
the castle you see today.
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This imposing tower with its curved walls,
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was built in the 13th Century,
from the remains of the Roman fort.
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00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,240
That's why it's known as Hadrian's Tower
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after one of the most famous
of the Roman invaders,
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the Emperor Hadrian.
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But the stone structure we see today,
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began it's life nearly a thousand years
after the time of Hadrian and the Romans.
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It goes back to the time of the Normans,
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invaders from France,
who conquered England in 1066,
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took the Crown
and covered the kingdom with castles,
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as symbols of their authority.
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Here, on the edge of the River Lune,
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Lancaster Castle looked out
at the no mans land
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that led towards Scotland.
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This is the oldest part
of Lancaster Castle.
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It's the Keep, which is
the strong central part of any castle,
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where the Lord lived,
or you ran for safety,
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if the enemy managed
to break into the outer gates.
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As you can see, it's big, it's square,
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and it's very hard to get into.
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The original door wouldn't have been here,
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it would have been up on the first floor.
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And you'd have been able to set fire to
a set of wooden stairs leading up to it,
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if the worst happened.
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And that would leave your enemy,
down here, kicking his heels.
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No one knows exactly who built The Keep.
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One theory is that it was built
by King David of Scotland,
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who for a time in the 1140's
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was granted control of
the North of England,
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and kept peace in this area.
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Building a towering stone keep
of this size
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would have taken at least five years.
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It's outer walls are almost 10 feet thick.
It stands four stories tall.
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By the 1150's, the castle was back
in the hands of the English Crown
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and began to appear
in the records of the day.
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But soon the castle was transformed.
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This time by one of the worst rulers
England ever produced,
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the infamous King John, whose suspicion
and paranoia often saw his enemies
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tortured and starved to death
in his castle's dreaded dungeons.
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00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,800
JONES: Lancaster's stone castle
was originally built by the Normans
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00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,200
in the 11th century
to keep peace in the north,
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00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,320
but a hundred years later,
it underwent a major transformation.
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00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,400
When the power hungry King John
came to the throne in 1199,
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he set about enlarging the castle complex.
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King John is remembered as one of the most
treacherous, untrustworthy, sadistic,
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incompetent, downright evil kings
in all of British history.
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This is the monarch who was forced
to grant Magna Carta,
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the famous bill of rights
when his barons rebelled.
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He's the bad guy
from the Robin Hood stories.
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His reputation is quite frankly awful
and guess what?
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It's all true.
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Being a suspicious tyrant,
John had a great love for castles
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which he quite rightly thought he needed
to protect himself
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from his subjects and from his enemies.
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Lancaster like many other castles
in England benefited from his paranoia.
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Just two years after visiting here in 1206
John began to spend the equivalent
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of a million pounds in strengthening
the castle's defenses.
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John had a deep ditch dug on the south
and west sides of the castle.
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He replaced the wooden fencing
with a huge stone wall.
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He ordered the building
of new fortifications
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and work began on Hadrian's Tower
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using some of the stone
from the old Roman fort.
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00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:39,960
But even though
John's castles were impressive,
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they weren't necessarily
nice places to end up.
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Because as well as being reinforced
to keep attackers out,
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their interiors were used
to hold the King's enemies.
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During John's rule, Lancaster Castle
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began to be associated
with crime and punishment
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and the emphasis was on the punishment.
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John's treatment of his prisoners
was notoriously cruel.
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In 1203, his teenage nephew
Arthur of Brittany
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disappeared while locked
in one of John's castles.
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The rumor went around
that John had got drunk one Easter,
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bashed the kid's head in with a stone
and thrown his body in a nearby river.
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Later John had the wife and son
of one of his great barons
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locked up in another castle.
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He ordered they were starved to death,
and it was said
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they died, insane with hunger.
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When the cell door was opened,
they were huddled together,
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the mother having tried
to eat her son's face.
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If you ended up in one of John's dungeons,
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the chances were, you weren't coming out.
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JONES: The addition of the stone wall
in the new tower,
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meant that when King John died in 1216
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he left behind a greatly extended castle,
looked after by a Sheriff.
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00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,280
The Sheriff was an official
the Monarch could trust,
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and locals could fear,
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and with the job of Sheriff came a castle.
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As the King's deputy,
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the Sheriff was responsible for
collecting taxes, keeping the peace,
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and organizing the assizes.
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The twice yearly court sessions
where visiting Royal Judges,
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would come to town to hear
serious criminal cases.
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These were big public events,
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so hosting the Assizes
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made Lancaster Castle
a very important place,
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and it made the Sheriff,
a very important man.
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JONES: In 1362, England's King Edward III,
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gave the position of Sheriff,
and the title Duke of Lancaster,
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to one of his sons, John of Gaunt.
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John of Gaunt wasn't
directly in line for the throne,
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but he was a very rich and powerful man.
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Either by birth or by marriage,
he inherited vast tracts of land
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between the rivers Ribbel and Mersey.
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00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:04,680
It was called the Duchy of Lancaster,
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00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,160
and it made him the wealthiest Lord
in Medieval England.
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00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:10,440
Now in 1377,
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00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,200
when his nephew Richard II
came to the throne,
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John of Gaunt persuaded him
to turn the Sheriff's job,
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00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:22,040
here at the castle, into a job for life,
and to substantially increase its powers.
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00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,160
JONES: Richard II was aware that
John of Gaunt's power
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00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:32,720
essentially made him king of Lancashire
and a very real threat to the Crown.
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00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:39,920
In 1399, John of Gaunt died leaving
everything to his son, Henry Bolingbroke.
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00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,800
Richard made a land grab
seizing the estates, the castle,
199
00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:47,720
and the Duchy of Lancaster.
200
00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,800
In response Bolingbroke raised an army
gaining so much support
201
00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,560
that Richard was forced to surrender
without a fight.
202
00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:02,040
By the end of the year,
Richard II was in the Tower of London
203
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,720
and Henry Bolingbroke was
King Henry IV of England,
204
00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,400
and it was King Henry who built
this magnificent gatehouse
205
00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,120
in memory of his father John of Gaunt.
206
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,320
It's 66 feet high, about 25 feet deep,
207
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,400
with these soaring semi octagonal towers
208
00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,520
and the great iron spiked gate
called a portcullis,
209
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,120
which in medieval times would be lowered
in the event of an attack.
210
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,320
It's got to be one of the most spectacular
gatehouses in England.
211
00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:35,040
Ironically, Henry IV
212
00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,880
did exactly the thing
he prevented Richard II from doing.
213
00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,920
He brought the Duchy of Lancaster
under the control of the Crown.
214
00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,520
That's where it remains,
so here's your start of a ten.
215
00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:49,560
Who is the current Duke of Lancaster?
216
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,720
MAN: At the massive John of Gaunt's gates
are the old Norman Castle which...
217
00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,360
JONES: Yes, it's the Queen.
218
00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,120
As Duke of Lancaster, Queen Elizabeth II
219
00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:04,160
controls more than 45,000 acres
of land and holdings.
220
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,480
The Duchy is worth
about half a billion pounds
221
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,640
with yearly revenues of around 60 million
222
00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,520
and it all dates back to the middle ages.
223
00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,600
During the 14th and 15th centuries
224
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,680
as a castle with a sheriff,
a prison, and a court,
225
00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,480
Lancaster was increasingly
used to enforce law and order.
226
00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,120
But here's the weird thing,
227
00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,400
for most of the Medieval period
prison wasn't the punishment.
228
00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,080
You're only kept in prison
to await your trial.
229
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,320
And the form that trial took
could be very unpleasant
230
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,520
because it always wasn't a judge
who decided your fate.
231
00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:51,480
It could be your God,
through the notorious trial by ordeal.
232
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:53,760
(DOORS CLOSING)
233
00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,200
Barrister and historian Dominic Selwood
explains.
234
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,400
Trial by ordeal was the ultimate trial
because effectively
235
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:04,960
humans brought the case,
but god decided the case.
236
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,960
So, in a trial by ordeal,
the accused person would take an oath.
237
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,360
So now it's a very crucial part
in the oath was
238
00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:12,480
"I swear I'm innocent."
239
00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,120
And it was done on holy books
and on holy relics.
240
00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,160
So the ordeal itself whether it was
carrying a piece of hot iron,
241
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:21,960
putting a hand into a cauldron
of boiling water
242
00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,880
to take out a hot iron ball,
was God interfering
243
00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,880
in the physical world to say,
yes, this person is telling the truth
244
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:29,600
or no that person's perjured themselves.
245
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:32,840
Tell us a little bit more about how
a trial by ordeal would proceed.
246
00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:36,520
So if we take probably the best known
which is a trial by iron,
247
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,880
a space of nine of the accused person's
feet would be measured out.
248
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:41,720
The iron would be heated up
249
00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:43,760
and depending on the seriousness
of the crime,
250
00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:45,320
the iron would weigh different amounts.
251
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,120
They have to pick up the iron
and run the nine feet
252
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:52,280
which could be done in about two seconds,
holding the iron and then drop it.
253
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,280
His hands would then be bound up
and then three days later
254
00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:58,000
the binding would then be taken off.
255
00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,440
If the skin was corrupted
then he was guilty.
256
00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:02,760
If the skin wasn't, then he was innocent.
257
00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,040
JONES: Here in Lancaster
during the Middle Ages,
258
00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,960
most punishments
would have been carried out in public.
259
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,400
From executions up on
what was called Gallows Hill,
260
00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,400
to being pelted in a stocks
with anything from rotten vegetables
261
00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,520
to dead cats and excrement.
262
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:21,960
In an age where there was
no such thing as police,
263
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,280
punishment was about making sure
that law and order
264
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,200
was seen to be enforced.
265
00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,640
So, one of the most gruesome things
I found at the castle is this,
266
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:33,960
the branding iron.
267
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,000
And here is how it works.
This was used until the 19th century.
268
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:43,000
Your hand would be clamped here
then this the iron would be heated
269
00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:48,360
until it was red hot, taken out and used
to imprint the letter M
270
00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:50,160
into the palm of your hand now.
271
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,080
M stood for malefactor or evil doer.
272
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,000
And as well as this being
a very painful punishment,
273
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,480
it was a visible sign
that you had a criminal record.
274
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:04,120
There was no escaping your past when it's
burned into the palm of your hand.
275
00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:10,760
Castle historian, Colin Penny, has brought
me to the bowels of Hadrian's Tower
276
00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:13,760
to show me some of the nastier tools
of punishment
277
00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:15,800
from Lancaster's dark history.
278
00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,400
But these handcuffs are tiny
like little children's handcuffs.
279
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,360
Children were put in prison
from the age of nine,
280
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,040
so they had to make handcuffs that would
fit them and not fall off.
281
00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,320
JONES: This here strikes me
as particularly ghastly.
282
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:31,200
Tell us a little bit about
what we've got here.
283
00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:35,400
This is a skulls bridle
and it was used to punish
284
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:40,760
women who had been found guilty of crimes
such as fighting in the streets,
285
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,080
and this gives a fairly good idea
of what it was like with this.
286
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,920
So you've got the bar here
that went over the tongue.
287
00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,440
This closed around the head
and there's a loop here
288
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:54,880
through which a chain would be passed
and of course every time
289
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,840
they pulled on this, the bar would move.
290
00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:00,760
Solid metal would break their teeth.
They would sometimes break their jaw.
291
00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:05,760
Some versions had the spike coming out
of the bar and every time that moved,
292
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,160
it would split the tongue.
293
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,040
(MUTTERING)
294
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:17,960
Yes, so now you are silenced.
295
00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,880
(MUTTERING)
296
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,080
And if you imagine somebody
pulling at the back here,
297
00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:25,400
your whole head would go hack.
298
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:26,480
Oh!
299
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,200
I'm actually going to take it off
because all joking aside,
300
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:32,880
that's absolutely horrendous.
301
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,240
JONES: I mean this is humiliating
and painful to wear.
302
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:40,000
It's designed to silence individuals,
but it's also designed
303
00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,120
to silence political opinion, isn't it?
304
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:43,960
Yes, and religious ones.
305
00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:49,280
JONES: Silencing dissent is a very
large part of Lancaster Castle's history.
306
00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,640
Many of its most infamous inmates
were people whose main offense
307
00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,360
was simply practicing the wrong religion.
308
00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:01,640
By the 16th and 17th centuries
that usually meant being a Catholic.
309
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,880
In 1534, Henry VIII made England
a Protestant country
310
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:08,280
by setting up the Church of England.
311
00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,840
Those who remained Catholics
were seen as enemies of the state.
312
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,240
From the reign of Henry's daughter,
Elizabeth I, onwards,
313
00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:19,560
anti Catholic feeling intensified,
314
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,840
peaking during the reign of Elizabeth's
successor, James I.
315
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,680
Between 1584 and 1646,
15 men were executed in Lancaster
316
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,320
for refusing to renounce
their Catholic faith.
317
00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,680
England was a Protestant nation
surrounded by powerful Catholic enemies,
318
00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:40,880
including France and Spain.
319
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,560
The Gunpowder Plot had been
carried out by Catholics,
320
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:46,080
including Guy Fawkes,
321
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,080
who planned to blow up King James I
in the Houses of Parliament.
322
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,000
So, England's Catholic population
were regarded with great suspicion,
323
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,480
potential allies of
enemies trying to invade us.
324
00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:00,720
In this climate of fear,
325
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,760
being a Catholic priest
was an act of treason,
326
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,240
punishable by the worst death imaginable.
327
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,680
One of the most tragic victims of
England's growing anti-Catholic hysteria,
328
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,080
was a priest called Edmund Arrowsmith.
329
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,440
He was tried at Lancaster Castle
in the summer of 1628.
330
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:31,240
Unfortunately for Arrowsmith,
331
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:36,160
he was tried by the famously
anti-Catholic judge, Sir Henry Yelverton.
332
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:38,560
He didn't stand a chance.
333
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,160
Yelverton found him guilty of high treason
334
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:46,080
and sentenced him not only to death
but to hanging, drawing and quartering,
335
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,440
using the dreadful words.
336
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,160
JONES: You shall there be hanged
by the neck,
337
00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:52,600
till you be half dead,
338
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,760
your members shall be cut off
before your face,
339
00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:57,920
and thrown into the fire.
340
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,920
Where likewise,
your bowels shall be burned.
341
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,320
Your head shall be cut off,
342
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,000
and set upon a stake or pole.
343
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,160
And your quarters shall be set upon
the four corners of the castle.
344
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,560
And so the Lord have mercy upon you.
345
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,560
Judge Yelverton then ordered
that Arrowsmith was to be
346
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:23,080
chained up in the castle's worst cell,
to await his horrible death.
347
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,240
But because many people in this area
were still secretly Catholic,
348
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:34,320
the authorities couldn't find anyone
to carry out the execution,
349
00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,240
until eventually,
another prisoner on a death sentence,
350
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:40,760
agreed to do the ghastly deed,
351
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,120
in return for his freedom
and 40 shillings.
352
00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,600
Everyone has a price.
353
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,680
Lancaster Castle was gaining
a reputation for tough justice,
354
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:53,720
and dreadful punishments.
355
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,000
And enemies of the state
could be lurking anywhere.
356
00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,800
But soon, Lancaster's greatest fear
357
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:02,840
wouldn't be religious insurrection,
or even rebellion.
358
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,480
It would be something
very different indeed.
359
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,000
Witchcraft.
360
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:16,240
JONES: As a great British castle,
Lancaster was designed for many things.
361
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:18,440
Originally built for keeping people out,
362
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,280
over time it came to specialize
in locking people in.
363
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,560
Lancaster Castle became
the most notorious prison in Britain.
364
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,520
Best known for the crimes
heard in its courtrooms,
365
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,000
and the grisly punishments
handed down within its walls.
366
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:34,480
(WHIP SNAPS, MAN SCREAMING)
367
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,720
Being tried at Lancaster
was never pleasant,
368
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:40,680
and very often it was fatal.
369
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,760
Over the years, hundreds of men and women
370
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,040
left the castle to face
the ultimate penalty,
371
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,160
death.
372
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,600
Until about 1800,
373
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,000
hangings happened
on the other side of town,
374
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:55,640
on what was called Gallows Hill.
375
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,560
The condemned would leave the castle
escorted by the Sheriff and his troops.
376
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:08,040
A crowd would gather to watch the
spectacle as they marched through town.
377
00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:09,960
And a tradition eventually developed,
378
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,000
whereby he or she was allowed to stop in
the Golden Lion Pub
379
00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:18,360
for a final drink before continuing on
to their fate on the hill.
380
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,520
They'd be wheeled up here from the castle
on the back of a horse and cart
381
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:34,320
as many as eight at a time,
382
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,280
while thousands of excited spectators
gathered to watch.
383
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,240
When they got here, they'd see a permanent
wooden structure known as a gibbet.
384
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,760
A noose around their neck
would be attached to the gibbet.
385
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:48,920
Then the horse and cart
would be driven away
386
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,920
and they'd be left
to slowly choke to death.
387
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,200
There were more than 200 crimes
which carried the death penalty
388
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:58,720
until the 19th century.
389
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,720
You could be hanged for stealing rabbits,
390
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:04,440
being in the company of gypsies
for one month,
391
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,680
damaging Westminster Bridge,
or impersonating a Chelsea pensioner.
392
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,960
Which to be fair, probably didn't happen
that much here in Lancashire.
393
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,600
But there was one crime this area
became really famous for,
394
00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:23,120
witchcraft.
395
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:28,760
In the 17th century, Britain was gripped
by a national terror of witches.
396
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,840
Lancaster Castle was
at the center of the biggest
397
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,640
and most notorious series of witch trials
in British history.
398
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:40,240
This is Pendle Hill.
399
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:45,720
In the 17th century, it was a forested
area with poor roads and remote villages.
400
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,880
A place full of superstition and mistrust.
401
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:52,160
Home to people who scraped out
a measly living
402
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,000
on the fringes of society.
403
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,240
And a chance encounter
on a road here in March 1612
404
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,560
led to the biggest witch trial
in English history
405
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:04,640
and the hanging of 10 people.
406
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:08,760
So here's the story.
407
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,440
There's this young girl called
Alison Device
408
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:15,760
and her granny is known locally
as a healer, or a cunning woman.
409
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,560
Now one day, young Alison is out
begging by the side of the road
410
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,440
and she meets a traveling salesman
but he won't give her the time of day.
411
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,360
So Alison curses him under her breath.
412
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,640
Later on the salesman collapses.
413
00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:32,640
It was probably some kind of a stroke
414
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,520
but he blames Alison,
and he calls her a witch.
415
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,640
Later, the salesman's son marches Alison,
the so called witch,
416
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,720
straight to an ambitious,
and very eager local magistrate.
417
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,440
But as soon as Alison is accused
of being a witch, what does she do?
418
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,800
She rats on her grandmother and her mother
and her brother and her sister
419
00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:00,080
and her neighbors, the Chattox family.
420
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,880
If she's going down as a witch,
then so are they.
421
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:05,440
This starts escalating.
422
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,760
Pretty soon any death
or unexplained occurrence in the area
423
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,880
is being linked to these two families.
424
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,520
This is turning quite literally
into a witch hunt.
425
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:22,520
This was the start of what became known as
the Pendle or Lancashire Witch Trials,
426
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,760
that were held in the castle in 1612.
427
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,400
Although the belief in witches
was ancient,
428
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,920
in England the fear of witchcraft
was nearing its peak
429
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,040
in the first half of the 17th century.
430
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:39,280
Henry VIII had passed the first law
that made witchcraft a specific crime.
431
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:45,320
But when James I became King of England
in 1603, he really upped the ante.
432
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,120
James believed his enemies were
using witchcraft to plot against him.
433
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:55,560
And he became so obsessed that he authored
a book on the subject called Daemonologie
434
00:26:56,120 --> 00:27:00,200
and created a new law which made
witchcraft punishable by death.
435
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:07,240
Crimes included making a covenant with
an evil spirit, using a corpse for magic,
436
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:13,440
hurting life or limb, procuring love
or injuring cattle by means of charms.
437
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,240
Ronald Hutton is one of Britain's
foremost experts in witchcraft
438
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:21,760
and its folklore.
439
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,760
JONES: Right, what is it about Pendle
that produced witches.
440
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,360
Pendle around 1600 is a forest area
441
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,040
which means that people can squat here
without being evicted.
442
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,040
It's rough, the people who live here
are often semi-criminal.
443
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:42,680
They make a living by thieving,
by offering magic as cunning craft.
444
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,840
When we talk about witches,
what do we really mean?
445
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,640
A witch in this period is somebody
who uses magic
446
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:51,400
to try and hurt somebody else.
447
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,320
Now what am I gonna do
if a witch has put a spell on me?
448
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,400
I have the hot new state of the art
response from the early 17th century.
449
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,800
Really easy. We need from you some
of your urine about half way up,
450
00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:08,880
some of your nail clippings,
clippings of your hair.
451
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,600
And what we then do if we're in a hurry,
we roast it over a fire.
452
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,200
And as your water boils,
the curse is turned back on the witch.
453
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,480
JONES: The trial of the Pendle witches was
to take place of course
454
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,200
in Lancaster Castle.
455
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,680
One of the reasons the trial became
so notorious is that the clerk
456
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,280
of the court, Thomas Potts,
published an account,
457
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:36,120
The Wonderful Discovery of Witches
in the County of Lancaster.
458
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:37,640
Now among the defendants,
459
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,400
you have three generations
of witches on trial.
460
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,400
You've got Alison, the original young girl
461
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,760
who is supposedly cursed,
the traveling salesman,
462
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:48,680
and her brother, James,
you have their mother, Elizabeth,
463
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:50,640
and the grandmother, Demdike.
464
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,040
Now, the real star
of the Pendle Witch Trials
465
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:57,440
was another sibling,
Alison's nine year old sister, Jennet.
466
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,000
And this book describes her as
"This young wench."
467
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:02,720
Can you tell me a little bit about Jennet?
468
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,800
Jennet is clearly a badly disturbed child
from a severely dysfunctional family.
469
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,680
And what happened in this court
was her star moments.
470
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,800
She agrees to accuse her entire family
of witchcraft.
471
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,120
She's so little she has to be put
on a table in the courtroom
472
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:19,680
for people to see and hear her.
473
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,960
Once she starts her mother realizes
that her daughter is sentencing
474
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,600
herself, the mother, to death
and begins screaming.
475
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:32,000
Jennet proceeds to accuse the whole family
of dealing with demons
476
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,800
and then implicates their friends
in the same practices.
477
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,040
James, the King, had already written
in his book on witchcraft
478
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,600
that the testimony of children
should be accepted
479
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,720
because witchcraft is such
a difficult crime to prove.
480
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,920
So this nine year old girl
is the deciding bit of evidence
481
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:56,440
that sentences not just her family,
but their friends to death.
482
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:00,080
JONES: One of the accused witches
was found not guilty.
483
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,360
Another died while awaiting trial.
484
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,960
The remaining 10, including Alison Device,
485
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,320
were found guilty and sentenced
to be executed by hanging.
486
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:12,760
This is the dungeon in the basement
of the Well Tower
487
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,360
where the witches were kept
waiting for their trial,
488
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,920
and eventual execution.
It must have been horrendous.
489
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,480
Damp, it's dank, there's no natural
light down here at all.
490
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:28,400
In fact, conditions were so brutal
that Alison Device's granny,
491
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,880
the witch known as old Demdike,
died down here waiting for her trial.
492
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,640
(CHURCH BELLS CHIMING)
493
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,480
JONES: On the 20th of August 1612,
494
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,240
the witches were brought along the
time honored route across town.
495
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,440
It is said they stopped
for their final drink
496
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:50,000
in the Golden Lion Pub
497
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:55,080
before being hanged in front
of a large jeering crowd on Gallows Hill.
498
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,160
You can understand why Lancaster
was starting to earn its nickname
499
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:08,520
of "The Hanging Town."
500
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,960
But it wasn't because the Sheriff
was particularly cruel
501
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,760
or because the town's people were
especially fond of killing each other
502
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,240
or casting magic spells.
503
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,000
It was because Lancaster Castle
was the only place in Lancashire
504
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:26,880
to host the assizes, the twice yearly
court session when judges arrived
505
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,160
to hold trials for everything from murder
through to sheep stealing.
506
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,440
And when they arrived,
Lancaster wasn't just the hanging town,
507
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:37,120
it was a boom town.
508
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,200
JONES: The court at the castle was
of huge importance to the town
509
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,160
as the influx of judges,
lawyers and clerks
510
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,880
brought in lots of money to the
local inn keepers and merchants.
511
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:55,280
At 17th century Lancaster,
crime really did pay.
512
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:00,680
The judges and the lawyers
lived the high life.
513
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,640
Lancaster's privileged legal physician
encouraged the building of some
514
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,360
magnificent Georgian properties,
which still stand here on Castle Hill.
515
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:13,880
This house was the residence
of Thomas Covell,
516
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,760
the keeper of Lancaster Castle
during the 17th century witch trial.
517
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,720
Later, in the 18th Century,
it became an impressive residence,
518
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,760
for judges visiting Lancaster Castle,
to sit at the Assize Courts.
519
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,680
And by the 18th Century
something else was starting up,
520
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:33,800
that would further increase
the town's fortunes.
521
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:36,560
The Industrial Revolution.
522
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:42,600
Lancaster was at the epicenter of
this major economic and social upheaval.
523
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,840
And what was good for Lancaster
would be good for its castle.
524
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,200
Lancashire was really the birthplace
of the Industrial Revolution.
525
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:53,640
Over the course of 100 years,
526
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,160
the growth of cotton mills
and heavy manufacturing
527
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,560
led to an explosion in population,
528
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:04,160
particularly in newly thriving cities
like Liverpool and Manchester.
529
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,920
Across Britain and Ireland,
tens of thousands of people
530
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,800
were leaving the land,
and flocking to the Industrial North.
531
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:15,640
And more people meant more crime.
532
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:17,880
More theft, more violence.
533
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,120
A new generation of dissenters
and non-conformists.
534
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,040
Luddites, chartists,
early trades union agitators.
535
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,000
And wherever these people
were apprehended,
536
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:30,640
even as far away
as Liverpool and Manchester,
537
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,400
where were they brought
to be tried and imprisoned?
538
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:39,280
Lancaster Castle.
539
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,200
For the castle, the Industrial Revolution
was good for business.
540
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,560
With its cells filled to bursting,
541
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,440
the coming century would
see the castle extensively rebuilt.
542
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:53,720
And a new form of punishment
was about to be dispensed.
543
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:55,400
Transportation.
544
00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:01,440
Lancaster Castle has a grisly history
of crime and punishment
545
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,200
going back over 800 years.
546
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,800
By the 18th Century it was doing
more business than ever before,
547
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:12,320
as the growing population was
accompanied by surging crime rates.
548
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,120
For those awaiting their fate
inside the castle
549
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:20,120
the conditions were unimaginably squalid,
550
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:22,920
and had changed little
from Medieval times.
551
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,520
There was little or no sanitation,
552
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:29,520
and men, women and even children
were crammed in together,
553
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:31,400
along with the mentally ill.
554
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:34,960
The overcrowding
and the filth were so bad,
555
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,360
they led to several outbreaks of disease,
556
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,960
probably typhus,
which was known as jail fever.
557
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,840
One outbreak in 1783 was so bad,
558
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,040
that as well as prisoners falling sick,
559
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,640
the Governor himself,
and several of his staff died.
560
00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:53,880
But pressure for change
was slowly growing.
561
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,240
In 1777, a prison reformer
called John Howard
562
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,440
had published a book called
The State of the Prison.
563
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,920
Howard had visited hundreds of prisons,
including Lancaster,
564
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,680
and his damning report led to new laws
about how prisons should be run.
565
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:15,120
Soon prisons had to provide
male and female segregation,
566
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:17,880
better sanitation and ventilation,
567
00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:21,080
and more communal spaces for exercise.
568
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,600
Much of Lancaster Castle
had to be redesigned
569
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:26,520
to meet the new requirements.
570
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:31,080
In 1796, the old Medieval Hall
of the Castle was demolished,
571
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,600
to make way for a new Crown Court
and this Shire Hall.
572
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,200
They were both the work
of the architect Thomas Harrison.
573
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:42,440
This fabulous 10 sided room
with its vaulted ceiling,
574
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:43,720
gothic columns and arches,
575
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,320
became the venue for civil,
non-criminal cases,
576
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,160
like bankruptcy and divorce.
577
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,720
But not all the money was spent on
comforts for the judges and barristers.
578
00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,960
This women's prison was built
inside the castle in 1821,
579
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:05,920
and in its own austere way,
I think it's grimly spectacular.
580
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,040
This new female penitentiary
was built according to the latest,
581
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:14,240
labor saving design,
the panopticon principle.
582
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,600
With cells radiating out
from a central hub,
583
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,400
so the guards could watch all the inmates
at the same time
584
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,360
without necessarily knowing
that they were being watched.
585
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,880
This was also fairly luxurious.
586
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,000
For the first time
prisoners had their own cells,
587
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,440
which is something that many
in Britain's overcrowded jails
588
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:38,120
don't even have today.
589
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,720
In a Victorian age
of innovation and invention
590
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,800
even the ancient practice of hanging
was made more efficient.
591
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:50,640
And this resulted in a new venue for
the executions at Lancaster Castle.
592
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,880
After 1800, hangings were moved
from Gallows Hill
593
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,240
to this spot
around the back of the castle.
594
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:02,480
Although still in front of jeering crowds
who would gather to watch the awful show.
595
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:08,840
Soon, more Britons were being executed
here in the renowned hanging town,
596
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:10,880
than anywhere else outside London.
597
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:16,960
This is now the Crown's Court jury room,
but it was the drop room,
598
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:20,280
where the condemned waited
before they were taken out to die.
599
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,400
The doors opened out onto the gallows,
600
00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:26,800
the condemned walked out, and dropped.
601
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,440
Literally thousands of people
would have gathered here,
602
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:34,000
in the grounds of the priory,
603
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,800
to witness this most public of ends.
604
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:42,160
Until 1853, the method of hanging used,
was called the short drop,
605
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,320
a horrible way to die
of slow strangulation.
606
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:50,520
This was later replaced by the relatively
more humane long drop,
607
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:53,400
in which the victim fell much further,
608
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:57,000
the neck was snapped
and death was instantaneous.
609
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:00,440
But radical change was in the air.
610
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,200
In the 18th and 19th centuries,
611
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,520
courts across England,
including Lancaster,
612
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,400
began offering an alternative punishment
for some hanging offenses.
613
00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:13,320
Transportation, as it was called,
614
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,240
was forced banishment
to an overseas penal colony,
615
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,560
by far the largest of which was Australia.
616
00:38:21,240 --> 00:38:23,280
Sentences ranged from seven years to life.
617
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,960
Between 1788 and 1868,
618
00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:31,960
160,000 people
were transported to Australia.
619
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,040
Men, women and children,
sometimes as young as nine,
620
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,320
Lancaster Castle still has records
for many of those it dispatched,
621
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:44,120
halfway around the globe.
622
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:48,080
But I'm particularly fascinated
by the story of two young brothers.
623
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:51,080
James and Leonard Cheatham,
624
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,840
sentenced to death in 1817,
for stealing sheep.
625
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,680
Now, stealing sheep might not sound
like a serious offense,
626
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:01,600
but these sheep were worth
more than 40 shillings,
627
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,080
which made it grand larceny,
a hanging offense.
628
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,800
However, the judge sitting here,
in the castle,
629
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:11,280
commuted their sentence to transportation.
630
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,040
The brothers were sent to Sydney
to become convict servants,
631
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,800
but they served their time,
were given their freedom,
632
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:24,920
both married convict women,
who'd also been transported.
633
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:27,640
How do I know all this?
634
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:31,480
Because their Australian descendant,
Wendy Robinson, told me so.
635
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,400
Or to be more precise,
Crown Prosecutor Wendy Robinson.
636
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:41,000
Incredibly, one of Australia's
most successful criminal lawyers,
637
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:43,360
is descended from two sheep stealers,
638
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,160
sentenced in this castle,
and in this very courtroom.
639
00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:49,880
JONES: Tell me what this document
is, Wendy?
640
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,400
ROBINSON: It's the indictment,
upon which they were tried,
641
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,280
or the original would have been handed up,
642
00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:57,840
and read out in this court
at the commencement of their trial.
643
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,040
Down at the bottom here it says,
"Leonard Cheatham, James Cheatham,
644
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,880
"they are to be severally hanged,
by the neck,
645
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:05,520
"until they be dead."
646
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,760
Well, on the following Wednesday,
the judge wrote a recommendation
647
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,800
to the region in counsel,
for their death sentences to be commuted,
648
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:15,600
they were separately loaded
onto different boats,
649
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:20,680
and sent to the colony of New South Wales,
both of them arriving there in 1818.
650
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,240
How long were they sentenced
to be in Australia for?
651
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:27,080
-Life.
-For life.
652
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:28,680
-So they never came back to England?
-No.
653
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:30,880
What did they do?
654
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:34,640
They worked as convict servants,
eventually getting their ticket of leave.
655
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,160
And then, some years later,
656
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:39,840
they moved right out further,
657
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,440
as the colony had expanded, they gained
on to the front phase and beyond
658
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,320
the known boundaries of the colony
and there they raised sheep
659
00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:53,800
and they raised lots and lots of sheep
and they became famous for their wool.
660
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:03,640
What do you think about this courtroom
and its importance in Australian history?
661
00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:09,760
This is probably the most important
courtroom in Australian history
662
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,960
so far as the numbers of people
who were processed
663
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,200
through this assize, from that dock.
664
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:21,200
And a very large proportion
of the New South Wales population
665
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:25,080
to this day are descendants from convicts
who came through this room.
666
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:27,480
JONES: Through this very room,
in this very castle.
667
00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:31,240
What are you thinking
when you look out at this court?
668
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:34,640
I think it's truly remarkable
that it's still here and I can be here.
669
00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,680
JONES: Many lives were destroyed here
at Lancaster Castle.
670
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,360
But it seems to me
it's also being the starting point
671
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,240
for countless new stories.
672
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,080
The last execution took place in 1910,
673
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,440
not in public,
but in a purpose built private shed.
674
00:41:56,400 --> 00:42:01,600
The prison closed six years later but was
then reopened for category C offenders,
675
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:03,400
low security risk.
676
00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:09,880
And in 2011, after eight centuries
of locking people up,
677
00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:13,800
Lancaster Prison finally
closed its doors for good.
678
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,960
And then opened them, to the public.
679
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,560
But the Crown Court still operates here,
680
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:25,800
so the castle is still fulfilling
one of its original purposes,
681
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,360
maintaining the rule of law
in the mighty Duchy of Lancaster.
682
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:36,920
And thats why there has been a prison here
for the best part of 850 years,
683
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,280
because as long as you've got crime,
you need punishment.
684
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,880
And Lancaster Castle
is very good at punishment.
685
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:48,680
Okay, guys, you can let me out now.
686
00:42:49,520 --> 00:43:56,459
JONES: Guys?
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