A new prison, to replace the rat-infested old gaol situated on the north corner of Silver Street, was projected by prison reformer John Howard, and plans were drawn up by Thomas Blackburn. However, the deaths of both men put the scheme on hold until 1797, when it was taken up by a committee who chose the site on Dame Alice Street and appointed John Wing to carry out the work. Wing, it was said, fulfilled the contractual demands admirably and the prison was finished in 1801.The majority of his work still stands, with the addition of the main entrance and side lodges and an extension of the perimeter walls completed in 1848-1849. The flat roof of the prison entrance, seen in the Fisher watercolour above, was where "The Drop" or scaffold for public hangings was set up, the last of these taking place in 1868.  Today the prison is considerably larger, following the building of an extension to the east in 1992.