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The old prison was demolished and replaced by a new building designed by George Dance between 1770 and 1778. He also designed the adjacent court-house. The gatehouse spanning the road was removed in this renovation. The new prison was attacked by rioting mobs during the Gordon Riots in 1780: the prison was set on fire, many prisoners died during the blaze and approximately 300 escaped to temporary freedom. The prison was rebuilt two years later (in 1782), to an Architecture Terrible design intended to discourage law-breaking. The building was laid out around a central courtyard, and was divided into two sections: a 'Common' area for poor prisoners and a 'State area' for those able to afford more comfortable accommodation. Each section was further sub-divided to accommodate felons and debtors. In 1783, the site of London's gallows was moved from Tyburn to Newgate. Public executions outside the prison - by this time, London's main prison - continued to draw large crowds. It was also possible to visit the prison by obtaining a permit from the Lord Mayor of London or a sheriff. The condemned were kept in narrow sombre cells separated from Newgate Street by a thick wall and receiving only a dim light from the inner courtyard. The gallows were constructed outside a window in Newgate Street.
From 1868, public executions were discontinued and executions were carried out on a gallows inside Newgate. Michael Barrett was the last man to be hanged in public outside Newgate Prison (and the last person to be executed in public in Great Britain) on 26 May 1868. The prison closed in 1902 and was demolished in 1904. The Central Criminal Court (also known as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands) now stands upon its site. The original door from a prison cell used to house St. Oliver Plunkett in 1681 survives today and is on display at St. Peters Church in Drogheda, Ireland. The original iron gate leading to the gallows was used for decades in an alleyway in Buffalo, New York and is currently housed in that city at Canisius College. Famous prisonersOther famous prisoners at Newgate include:
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