The renovation includes a complete overhaul of the Inveraray Jail gift shop, customer toilets and essential maintenance in the main thoroughfares of the prisons .

We are looking forward to seeing our new and improved customer facilities.  As a privately run business, the maintenance and upkeep of the historic building is 100% our responsibility.  We are passionate about keeping this part of Argyll history in tip top condition whilst ensuring the best facilities and experience for our visitors.  We’re sorry for any inconvenience our short term closure may cause in the meantime.

For details of our opening times over the Festive period, please visit our website.  We will re-open on Saturday 15th January 2011 at 10am.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

The Life Mask and Death Mask of Burke

Burke & Hare are said to have murdered at least 16 people, possibly up to 30, in Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh. The infamous criminal pair sold the corpses of their innocent victims to anatomy professor and lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Robert Knox, who used them for dissection and research. Their chilling crimes in the gothic city ended 181 years ago when Burke was found guilty and publicly executed. Hare escaped the hangman after giving evidence against his partner in crime.

The story of how the two heads and the hangman’s noose ended up at Inveraray Jail, in the west of Scotland, remains unexplained since neither Burke nor Hare were ever held at the prison.  A life mask is thought to have been made of Hare during the trial whilst Burke’s shaven head was cast following his public hanging. A handful of masks are known to exist with one in the USA, Swansea and St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities.

Inveraray Jail, Argyll

Unfortunately, we have never been able to find out how they came to be here at the jail. It may be due to the new ‘science’ called phrenology which was popular at that time. It was believed the shape and contours of a person’s head could dictate their personality and ‘experts’ held talks across the country using casts of the heads of infamous criminals to illustrate their point.

With the increased awareness of Burke & Hare generated from the release of the new movie this weekend, it is a very relevant time to finally put them on display.   We are looking forward to sharing the fascinating artefacts with our visitors this weekend and plan to keep them on display going forward.

What was that?!

With its gruesome history and haunting tales, Inveraray Jail is getting into the Halloween spirit this weekend. Two late night ghost hunts, which are now fully booked, are taking place on Saturday and Sunday night. Unexplained sightings and unusual activity recorded by visitors, staff and paranormal investigators suggest that the establishment is haunted. Meanwhile, the jail’s real life characters are ready to share with visitors how prisoners were treated in the 19th century. 6000 men, women and children were tried and served sentences in the jail between 1820 and 1889. The jail also features in popular TV programme Most Haunted Series 13, which was released on DVD last week.

From slate board to ipad!

Ictopus, a free web based information communications technology (ICT) support service for primary education, has prepared a new teaching resource which uses the jail records to educate pupils on the social history of the Victorian period.  The resource became available to educators earlier this month and is designed for young people and children using searchable databases including Microsoft Excel.  The project started following an ictopus group trip to Inveraray Jail in June this year. The consultants were impressed with the huge educational potential available at the museum.

Viewing the Jail records

Records are on display at the Jail and visitors  can search through the fascinating records which hold details on prisoners such as their name, occupation, crime committed, sentences and transportation details.  Inveraray Jail did have an electronic copy of the records, however ictopus spent around six weeks re-working the entire database to make it child friendly.  This included censoring some of the original terms used and devising a glossary for children to interpret the 19^th century legal terminology.

Project activities include the use of Google Maps & Google Earth and searching through the database to find stories, patterns, trends and changes that took place across Victorian society.  It also applies activities such as writing a news article based on real life court cases, the re-enactment of court scenes and searching through transportation records which pupils can link to those recorded in Queensland, Australia.

Rhona Dick, a freelance educational consultant and who prepared the records for school use, said: “This project is first and foremost about history. The records are about real people and real events and through their stories, hopefully, children can gain a better understanding of what life might have been like for some of the men, women and children living in a rural part of Victorian Scotland. ICT provides a medium through which knowledge and understanding of past societies can be taught and learnt and historical skills developed.”

She added: “Data handling is important and relevant across the curriculum and children, primary and secondary, are very rarely given access to a large database such as the Inveraray Jail records.  On behalf of ictopus, I would like to thank Inveraray Jail for making these records available to us.”

We are delighted to have worked with ictopus on this educational project. We are really impressed with the activities that Rhona and her team devised which relate perfectly to the jail’s history and stories of the prisoners. Inveraray Jail is a living example of 19^th century life so we value the importance of being involved in historic education. This has been a fantastic opportunity for the jail to get involved further in education.

Marilyn & Billy in Inveraray! See below!

The poll gives visitors to the 19^th century courthouse and living prison in Argyll the opportunity to reveal who they would most like to share a prison cell with and who they would most like to see locked up.

Whilst a partner or spouse was on top of the visitor’s cellmate wish list, following second was Scots comedian Billy Connolly, third place Brad Pitt and fourth place George Clooney. UK glamour model Katie Price rated fifth on the wish list whilst at the same time rating fourth in who they would like to see locked up.  Top on the “Lock Up” list was former PM Gordon Brown followed by second place Tony Blair, third place Sir Fred Goodwin of the Royal Bank of Scotland and “a relative” came in fifth place.

Other names contributed to the cellmate wish list included Marilyn Monroe, Zac Efron, Lady GaGa and Cheryl Cole as well as comedians Russell Brand, Lee Evans and Michael Macintyre.  More recently, the “Go Compare” man, from the insurance comparison website‘s TV advertisement, is a popular suggestion amongst those on the Lock Up list.

Our Staff, Hanna as Marilyn & Kenny as Billy!

Our visitors always have great fun completing the poll cards. The results every month tend to reflect the range of age groups that come here every year, from children to grandparents, as well as what is going on in the current climate.   Plus, we are delighted to see a spouse or partner at the top of the list.  Perhaps it is the romantic effect a holiday in Argyll has!

Entries where taken from some of the over 100,000 visitors to the Jail in the last 18 months.  The visitor questionnaires give visitors the opportunity to name anyone they wish and are available at the end of their visit in the kitchen at the jail.

The Jail will feature on the channel’s new travel guide show. The channel, which reaches 60 million viewers in Russia, regularly features programmes devoted to myths, legends and traditions from places all over the world.

Mikhail Kozhukhov (second from right)

The interactive guides at Inveraray Jail were delighted to assist the show’s presenter and General Director, Mikhail Kozhukhov, who is one of the most famous journalists in Russia and former Press Secretary to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.  Mikhail is the author of many travel shows, including In Search of Adventures and Round the World, that were transmitted on primetime television channel Russia.  His new programme will broadcast in September and is expected to be a big hit on the TV3 channel.

The visit to Inveraray Jail, organised by VisitScotland’s international PR team, involved Mikhail dressing up as a prisoner during the filming.

Gavin Dick, Prison Governor at Inveraray Jail said: “We were delighted to play host to TV3 and Mikhail Kozhukhov.  The crew were good fun, very enthusiastic and interested in our history.  The show will be a fantastic opportunity to spread the historic story of Inveraray Jail to such a wide audience overseas.  Our thanks go to VisitScotland for the opportunity.”

Fell from the sky!

Prison warder Adam Trela witnessed an unusual fish, 60cm long, fall from the sky this morning (1st June) into the grounds of the Jail. It is assumed to have been dropped by a sea bird.

Alex Blackman, manager of the neighbouring Sea Life Sanctuary in Oban, identified the fish as a red bandfish (Cepola rubescens). This particular variety of red bandfish is commonly associated with the south west coasts of England and Wales and is thought to extend to the the west coast of Scotland.

It is unusual to find individuals of the species above 15m of water.

The Sanctuary Curator Dennis Chamberlin adds: ‘Red bandfish live at the bottom of the sea bed and burrow into muddy areas. It may have swum into a creel or lobster pot, which is fairly common – and been caught by a gull whilst a fisherman was releasing it back into the sea’.

Like a goldfish put through a mangle!

Gavin Dick, Prison Governor for the interactive 19th century jail, says: ‘We were amazed to find this peculiar looking fish in our prison grounds this morning! It looked like someone had put their pet goldfish through the Jail’s mangle!. Had this happened in the 19th century, I’m sure the prisoners would have fought over who was going to have this for their tea!’

Inveraray Jail was once the courthouse and prison serving Argyll.  Real life warders, matrons and prisoners bring the 19th century prison alive.

Visitors – or visiting masochists -  can try out prison beds and hammocks in the old and new prisons, sit in on a trial in the spectacular courtroom, sample the brutal 19th century prison punishments and search through prison records for their naughty ancestors.

No trouble so far!

However the young pipers and drummers, led by Pipe Sergeant Dougie Campbell were hoping not to meet any of the ghostly inmates of the Jail. But to get them in the mood, they decided to watch, “Paranormal Activity” prior to entering!

At 11p.m. they went into the Jail and were shown round by Head Warder, Rob Irons who told them stories of ghostly happenings in the Jail and showed them to the cells where they would spend the night. The girls decided to bed down for the night in one cell with a view to “safety in numbers”.

The boys were more curious and went round the whole building hoping to meet some of the “old prisoners”. Some of them spent a while in the Court House and are convinced that they did indeed experience some strange happenings.

After a sleepless night the team emerged from the Jail at 8a.m., cold and tired but unscathed. They all made it through the night and so earned over £1,000 in sponsor money for band funds.

The band thanked Inveraray Jail for their “hospitality” and head warder, Rob Irons for looking after the band throughout the night.

Matron and Prisoner

The prison matron and one of the jail’s prisoners will escape for five days across the next two weeks to embark on an exciting school roadshow.  The two jail guides, who will also be judging the competition, are searching for six lucky pupils who will win the chance to play the part of a child prisoner for one afternoon this summer at the Jail.

Participating pupils have been rehearsing monologues for the past few weeks which they will perform in front of the Inveraray Jail judges.  Pupils have the choice to audition as 11 year old Duncan McColl, who is facing the judges for stealing an apple from a market stall, or as a 10 year old girl and prisoner describing her experiences of being refined to a dark, damp and cold prison cell.

11 schools across Argyll are taking part including Ardrishaig Primary, Kilcreggan Primary (Dunbartonshire), Drumlemble and Castlehill Primary (Campbeltown), Strachur Primary, Dunoon Primary, Furnace & Minard Primary (by Inveraray), Ashfield (Achnamara), Lochnell Primary (Connel) and Kilchrenan Primary (Taynuilt).  Over 130 pupils are expected to audition.

Kilcreggan Primary School

Before the auditions, the prison matron and her prisoner will perform a sketch for the school pupils, giving an insight into a typical day in the life of a 19^th century prisoner.

As well as a fun acting role in the summer, the six winners will also win Inveraray Jail goodies for their class.  Winners will be announced Monday 7^th June.

Gavin Dick, Prison Governor for Inveraray Jail said: “We are excited to be working with local schools.  It will be a really fun way for pupils to learn more about their local history.  Children as young as seven served sentences at Inveraray Jail in the 19^th century for being naughty, so pupils will need to be on best behaviour!”

A Day in Jail!

He added:  “We would like to wish all the pupils who are auditioning the very best of luck and we look forward to welcoming our winners to the jail this summer.”

Raring to go?!

On Sunday 9^th May 2010, keen runners fled from prison as the Inveraray Jail Break race returned to Argyll for a second year.  First place male category winners failed to beat last year’s records whilst all three first place female category winners beat the records.

The warder rings the escape bell!

Thirty-four runners from near and far set off from Inveraray Jail at 11am to the clang of the warder’s escape bell.  The race continued up some 250 metres high to Dun na Cuaiche, the watch tower above Inveraray.  The runners thinned out as the steep climb took hold and by the time the summit was reached the result was decided as Philip Price reached the top ahead of all others.

The going gets tough!

Runners completed the circular route down at the finishing line in the grounds of Inveraray Castle.

The event was part of this year’s Inveraray Bluebell Festival, an exciting month long programme of cultural events taking place in the Inveraray area by Loch Fyne.

Winning categories included first male and first female junior, senior and veteran.  The overall fastest time recorded was an impressive 29 minutes and six seconds from first male senior Philip Price.  The fastest female time was 32 minutes 34 seconds, from first female senior winner, Emma O’Shea.

2010 – this year’s first place winners:

• First male junior – David McAlister – 31:22
• First male senior – Philip Price – 29:06
• First male veteran – Alan Smith – 29:55
• First female junior – Freya Corner – 40:07 – (RECORD)
• First female senior – Emma O’Shea – 32.34 – (RECORD)
• First female veteran – Dinah Bosomworth – 37:20 (RECORD)

All the Winners

2009 – last year’s first place winners:

• First male junior – Paul Cameron – 28:54
• First male senior – Nick Emsley – 28:46
• First male veteran – Paul Thompson – 29:14
• First female junior – Naomi Sturrock – 44:14
• First female senior – Naomi Dixon – 41:02
• First female veteran – Fiona Corner – 38:59

Participants each received a free Inveraray Jail T-shirt and there were trophies, medals and prizes for category winners.  The race catered for a range of running enthusiasts.

Voting forms are currently on display throughout the jail showing images of the party leaders behind bars, including Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.  Visitors are being asked to vote for the party leader or someone of their own choice they would like to be released from jail to run the country.  Just like a normal election, visitors can fill out the ballot paper and pop their completed form into the jail’s ballot box.  Since the voting forms went on display on 7^th April, the jail has received a number of votes, particularly from Easter Holiday visitors, and they plan to make a prediction before the Election Day on Thursday 6^th May.

We are looking forward to see which party leader will receive the ‘get out of jail’ card and it will be interesting to see if our predictions are right! We suspect all the party leaders will be left to stay in Jail and a peoples’ choice will attract the most votes!  Those voting in our opinion poll should bear in mind that many prisoners of Inveraray Jail faced transportation to Australia or were sentenced to years of punishment and hard labour in cold, damp prison conditions!