Parkhurst Camp Isle of Wight

[Graeme Heavey]

Can anybody provide me with any info on Parkhurst camp? My gt grandads battalion were there at the outbreak of the War and I would like to know a bit more. Was it anything to do with Albany Barracks? Is it now the site of Parkhurst prison?

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Graeme

There are three closely connected prisons in the Parkhurst area:

Albany occupies the site of a former military barracks on the outskirts of Newport. It was designed and built as a Category C Training Prison in the early 1960s. Soon after opening in 1967, a decision was taken that security be upgraded and, in 1970, Albany became part of the dispersal system.

Camp Hill is located 1 mile (1.6Km) to the west of Albany and Parkhurst originally an army barracks was built in 1912 using prisoner labour from HMP Parkhurst and opened by Winston Churchill. It lies adjacent to HMP Albany and Parkhurst on the outskirts of Newport, Isle of Wight and is a Category C Training prison.

Parkhurst Prison was built as a military hospital in 1805, then transformed to a prison for boys awaiting deportation, mainly to Australia, as part of the Parkhurst act of 1835. By 1847 a new wing (C Wing) had been built by prisoners who actually dug the clay and baked the bricks. This wing is still in use today. From 1863 to 1869 Parkhurst was a female prison. Parkhurst has served as a male prison since this time and became one of the first Dispersal Prisons in 1968.

dave