Note 34 — Chapter II

The first rise of any material improvement, in this respect, is to be traced to the labours of the philanthropist Howard. He visited Beccles in the years 1776, 1779, and 1782, and thus describes the arrangements of that comparatively recent period. “Beccles.—A room on the ground floor, called the ward; a chamber for women, called the upper ward; a day-room with a fire-place; and a dungeon seven steps underground. In the ward is a window to the street, which is highly improper; . . . no proper separation of the men and women. Only one court; . . . Licence for beer: (a riotous alehouse)” . . . State of the Prisons, 3rd ed. p. 303.