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  • Originally posted by jembo View Post
    Great story DTW. I used to pass Fort Widley quiet regular an my way to Havant and Haling Island. I had one of my holiday lets on Shortwood Road Haling. Used to stay at the Royal Oak or the Bear hotel Havant.
    I know both the Bear and Royal Oak......the oak is a nother gem in Hants and the windmill in the old village. Both still goin strong.
    We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

    Comment


    • Originally posted by DAMNTHEWEATHER View Post
      I know both the Bear and Royal Oak......the oak is a nother gem in Hants and the windmill in the old village. Both still goin strong.
      Here’s one of the Royal Oak on the wall of my office.
      Attached Files
      I google because I'm not young enough to know everything.
      Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit

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      • Originally posted by jembo View Post
        Here’s one of the Royal Oak on the wall of my office.
        Jaze Jem, have ye nuttin bigger oim havin a problem seein dis wan without me specs.....fordeluvnhonourajayziz !!!!!
        Attached Files
        We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

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        • All the greats round my way..........

          The son of French civil engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and an English mother Sophia Kingdom, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Britain Street, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire


          The Right Worshipful, the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Councillor Robin Sparshatt, unveiled a monument to Isambard Kingdom Brunel on 7th April 2006 at St. Georges Square. Brunel, the son of a French civil engineer and English mother was born in Portsmouth 200 years ago. Colas sponsored the 5 tonne Cornish granite stone, supplied from our Aram quarry. A local Cornish stonemason, Tim Marsh carried out the engraving. Bit late in honouring wanna dor English heroes eh ?.
          Attached Files
          We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

          Comment


          • Originally posted by DAMNTHEWEATHER View Post
            Jaze Jem, have ye nuttin bigger oim havin a problem seein dis wan without me specs.....fordeluvnhonourajayziz !!!!!
            I google because I'm not young enough to know everything.
            Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit

            Comment


            • Originally posted by jembo View Post
              Nice pic M8....nice pub....good food....very old mill, well kept.
              We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

              Comment


              • HM Prison Dartmoor is a Category C men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. The prison is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, and is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

                In 1805, Great Britain was at war with Napoleonic France, a conflict during which thousands of prisoners were taken and confined in prison "hulks" or derelict ships. This was considered unsafe, partially due to the proximity of the Royal Naval dockyard at Devonport (then called Plymouth Dock), and as living conditions were appalling in the extreme, a prisoner of war depot was planned in the remote isolation of Dartmoor. Construction started in 1806, taking three years to complete. In 1809 the first French prisoners arrived, and were joined by American POWs taken in the War of 1812. At one time the prison population numbered almost 6,000. By July 1815 at least 270 Americans and 1,200 French prisoners had died. Both French and American wars were concluded in 1815, and repatriations began. The prison then lay empty until 1850, when it was largely rebuilt and commissioned as a convict goal. After originally being buried on the moor, due to the establishment of the prison farm in about 1852, all the prisoners' remains were exhumed and re-interred in two cemeteries behind the prison.

                Early history
                Designed by Daniel Asher Alexander and constructed originally between 1806 and 1809 by local labour, to hold prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, it was also used to hold American prisoners from the War of 1812. Although the war ended with the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814, many American prisoners of war still remained in Dartmoor.

                From the spring of 1813 until March 1815 about 6,500 American sailors were imprisoned at Dartmoor. These were naval prisoners, and impressed American seamen discharged from British vessels. Whilst the British were in charge of the prison, the prisoners created their own governance and culture. They had courts which meted out punishments, there was an in-prison market, a theatre and a gambling room. About 1,000 of the prisoners were black Americans.

                After the prisoners heard of the Peace of Ghent, they expected immediate release, but the British government refused to let them go on parole or take any steps until the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate, 17 February 1815. It took several weeks for the American agent to secure ships for their transportation home, and the men grew very impatient. On 4 April, a food contractor attempted to work off some damaged hardtack on them in place of soft bread and was forced to yield by their insurrection. The commandant, Captain T. G. Shortland, suspected them of a design to break out of the gaol. This was the reverse of the truth in general, as they would lose their chance of going on the ships, but a few had made threats of the sort, and the commandant was very uneasy.

                About 6:00 pm of the 6th, Shortland discovered a hole from one of the five prisons to the barrack yard near the gun racks. Some prisoners were outside the fence, noisily pelting each other with turf, and many more were near the breach (and the gambling tables), though the signal for return to prisons had sounded. Shortland was convinced of a plot, and rang the alarm bell to collect the officers and have the men ready. This precaution brought back a crowd just going to quarters. Just then a prisoner broke a gate chain with an iron bar and a number of the prisoners pressed through to the prison market square. After attempts at persuasion, Shortland ordered a charge which drove some of the prisoners in. Those near the gate, however, hooted at and taunted the soldiery, who fired a volley over their heads. The crowd yelled louder and threw stones, and the soldiers, probably without orders, fired a direct volley which killed and wounded a large number. Then they continued firing at the prisoners, many of whom were now struggling to get back inside the blocks.

                Finally the captain, a lieutenant and the hospital surgeon (the other officers being at dinner) succeeded in stopping the shooting and caring for the wounded – about 60, 30 seriously, besides seven killed outright. The affair was examined by a joint commission, Charles King for the United States and F. S. Larpent for Great Britain, which exonerated Shortland, justified the initial shooting and blamed the subsequent deaths on unknown culprits. The British government provided for the families of the killed, pensioned the disabled and promoted Shortland.

                A memorial has been erected to the 271 POWs (mostly seamen) who are buried in the prison grounds.

                Dartmoor was reopened in 1851 as a civilian prison, but was closed again in 1917, when it was converted into a Home Office Work Centre for certain conscientious objectors granted release from prison; cells were unlocked, inmates wore their own clothes, and could visit the village in their off-duty time. It was reopened as a prison in 1920, and then contained some of Britain's most serious offenders.

                Dartmoor mutiny

                Main gates of Dartmoor Prison
                On 24 January 1932, there was a major disturbance at the prison. The cause of the riots is generally attributed to the food, not generally but just on specific days when it was suspected it had been tampered with prior to the disturbance. There had also been other instances of disobedience prior to this, according to the official Du Parcq report into the incident such as a model prisoner attacking a popular guard with a razor blade and rough treatment of a prisoner being removed to solitary. At the parade later that day, 50 prisoners refused orders, and the rest were marched back to their cells but refused to enter. At this point, the prison governor and his staff fled to an unused part of the prison and secured themselves in there. The prisoners then released those held in solitary. There was extensive damage to property and a prisoner was shot by one of the staff but no prison staff were injured. According to Fitzgerald (1977) "Reinforcements arrived, and within fifteen minutes these 'vicious brutes', who for some two hours had terrorized well-armed prison staff, and effectively controlled the prison, had surrendered and been locked up again".

                Notable former inmates

                Éamon de Valera (1920s)
                Michael Davitt
                Peter Hammond, founder of Hammond, Louisiana, USA
                Fred Longden
                John Rodker
                Moondyne Joe
                Thomas William Jones, Baron Maelor
                John Boyle O'Reilly
                Arthur Owens
                Éamon de Valera
                F. Digby Hardy
                John Williams
                Frank Mitchell
                Reginald Horace Blyth
                Darkie Hutton
                John George Haigh
                Bruno Tolentino, who eventually was deported to Brazil where the major part of his oeuvre was published. "A Balada do Cárcere" (1996) is a poetic recollection of the time spent in Dartmoor.

                Read more:-


                Bogs, fogs, dogs and tales of celebrity convicts are helping to attract 30,000 visitors a year to Dartmoor Prison.

                Attached Files
                Last edited by jembo; 17-02-2018, 08:51 AM.
                I google because I'm not young enough to know everything.
                Nemo Mortalium Omnibus Horis Sapit

                Comment


                • Nice one JBo....and imortalized in song;
                  well this lonely Dartmoor prison
                  Would put many in a jig
                  The cell it isnt pretty and
                  it isnt very big
                  sure Id long ago have left this place
                  If i had only got
                  Me little stick of "gelliganite"
                  And me ould "alarem" clock

                  https://youtu.be/BfANJ2IIIps
                  We'll sail be the tide....aarghhhh !!

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