Newgate Prison

The Black Dog of Newgate is a legend concerning the haunting of the former Newgate Prison of London, which was located next to the Old Bailey (The Central Criminal Court), close to St. Pauls Cathedral, in London, England. This account of a haunting based at the prison is an example of the English Black Dog category of supernatural manifestation, featuring a spectral hound of ill-omen or malicious intent, which is a notable archetype in British folklore and superstition. The earliest account of the story dates from the publication The Discovery of a London Monster, called The Blacke Dogg of Newgate: Profitable for all Readers to Take Heed byAlthough believed to have long existed in folklore previously, the earliest recorded account of the legend dates from 1596, and is credited to a prison inmate called Luke Hutton. A notable copy of the book and its woodcut frontispiece is held at the Guildhall Library, LondonThe story recounts that during a famine in the reign of King Henry III of England, a scholar was incarcerated in Newgate prison who had the reputation of being a sorcerer, a warlock who had Done much hurt to the Kings subjects with his Charms and Devilish Witchcraft. The famine was so severe and the conditions so bad during this terrible period that the prisoners had already resorted to cannibalism, and soon after his arrival they consumed this new arrival, who was unable to physically defend himself. Shortly after this crime was committed, the inmates guilty of his death reportedly began seeing the spectre of a monstrous black dog walking up and down the Prison, which they were convinced was the sorcerers spirit returning to avenge himself upon his murderers. This being reportedly killed and consumed those responsible one by one, until the last survivors, driven mad by fear, broke out of the gaol and escaped.This creature is supposed to have pursued the escapes wherever they went or tried to hide until it had avenged itself upon them all. Towards the end of the narrative the unnamed stranger claims that the tale of the spiritual dog is untrue, and that the only Black Dog he has heard any account of is a great blacke Stone standing in the dungeon called "Limbo", the place where the condemned prisoners are put after their judgement, and against which felons have dashed out their brains in their distress. Intended as a morality tale preaching against the low behaviour and base living of the inmates of the prison, during a period when conditions for inmates were particularly horrific, the story was allegedly recounted by Luke Hutton to a stranger only described as a poor Thin-gut fellow in the Black Dog Public House.Hutton dedicated the work to the then Lord Chief Justice Sir John Pophame, and owing to its moral theme it may have helped to secure its release. There is some speculation as to whether this haunting of the Black Dog of Newgate is also connected to nearby Amen Court, where an alleged ghost, supposedly in the form of an amorphous "Black Shape," creeps along the high wall which formerly separated the prison from the homes of many of the churchmen of St. Paul's Cathedral. Sightings of this shape have never been clear enough for its physical form to be identified.

The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that houses the Crown Court of England and Wales. The street outside follows the route of the ancient wall around the City of London, which was part of the fortification's bailey, hence the metonymic name. The Old Bailey has been housed in a succession of court buildings on the street since the sixteenth century, when it was attached to the medieval Newgate gaol. The current main building block was completed in 1902, designed by Edward William Mountford; its architecture is recognised and protected as a Grade II* listed building. An extension South Block was constructed in 1972, over the former site of Newgate gaol which was demolished in 1904. The Crown Court sitting in the Old Bailey hears major criminal cases from within Greater London. In exceptional cases, trials may be referred to the Old Bailey from other parts of England and Wales. As with most courts in England and Wales, trials at the Old Bailey are open to the public; however, they are subject to stringent security procedures.

The 1973 Old Bailey bombing (dubbed as Bloody Thursday by tabloids in Britain) was a car bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA (IRA) which took place outside the Old Bailey Courthouse on 8 March 1973. The attack was carried out by an 11-person active service unit (ASU) from the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. The unit also exploded a second bomb which went off outside the Ministry of Agriculture near Whitehall in London at around the same time the bomb at the Old Bailey went off. This was the Provisional IRA's first major attack in England since the Troubles began in the late 1960s. One British civilian died of a heart attack attributed to the bombing, estimates of the injured range from 180 to 220 from the two bombings. Two additional bombs were found and defused. Nine people from Belfast were convicted six months later for the bombing, one person managed to escape and one was acquitted for providing information to the police.

The Viaduct Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at 126 Newgate Street, Holborn, London. It was built in 1865 and the interior was remodeled in 1898–1900 by Arthur Dixon. It is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.The tavern is also known for reportedly being haunted, and has been the subject of several investigation shows, including BuzzFeed Unsolved.

The Giltspur Street Compter was a compter or small prison, designed by English architect and surveyor George Dance the Younger, mainly used to hold debtors. It was situated in Giltspur Street, Smithfield, close to Newgate, in the City of London, between 1791 and 1853.The Compter was adjacent to Christ's Hospital Boys' School (1553-1902). Its construction began in 1787, and the Compter was ready for occupation in 1791. In 1815 it took some prisoners from the nearby Poultry Compter prior to its closure. The Giltspur Street prison was itself closed in 1853 and demolished in 1854, the site being later occupied by the King Edward Buildings Royal Mail Sorting Office.

The Worshipful Company of Cutlers is one of the ancient Livery Companies of the City of London. It ranks 18th in the order of precedence of the Companies. The trade of knife-making and repairing was formed in the thirteenth century as a guild; the Cutlers' Company received a Royal Charter in 1416. The Company, like many other City Livery Companies, no longer has a strong connection with its trade, which for the most part relocated north to Sheffield, where a similar association, the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire was established. Thus, the Livery Company remains primarily as a charitable institution. The Company funds and administers a variety of educational initiatives such as scholarships and awards.

Giltspur Street is a street in Smithfield in the City of London, running north–south from the junction of Newgate Street, Holborn Viaduct and Old Bailey, up to West Smithfield, and it is bounded to the east by St Bartholomew's Hospital. It was formerly known as Knightsriders Street, from the knights riding at the tournaments in Smithfield.In 1381 King Richard II met the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt here, promising to agree to the rebels' demands, which included a repeal of the Statute of Labourers that prevented workers changing jobs for better pay. However, during the negotiations William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London, lured rebel Wat Tyler away and stabbed him; when Tyler sought refuge in the neighbouring St. Bartholemew's Church he was dragged out and beheaded. The revolt later subsided. Located on the junction of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane is the Golden Boy of Pye Corner, a cherub which is a symbol of gluttony, the sin which supposedly led to divine retribution in the form of the Great Fire of London. An inscription on the monument reads: "The Boy at Pye Corner was erected to commemorate the staying of the Great Fire which beginning at Pudding Lane was ascribed to the sin of gluttony when not attributed to the Papists as on the Monument, and the Boy was made prodigiously fat to enforce the moral. He was originally built into the front of a public house called The Fortune of War which used to occupy this site and was pulled down in 1910." Also on Giltspur Street is a monument to the English essayist Charles Lamb, best known for his Essays of Elia and for co-writing the children's book Tales from Shakespeare. An inscription on the sculpture reads: Perhaps the most loved name in English literature who was a bluecoat boy here for 7 years. B·1775, D·1834.The street gave its name to the Giltspur Street Compter, a small prison located on the street from 1791 to 1855. The nearest London Underground station is St Paul's and the closest mainline railway stations are City Thameslink and Farringdon.

Holy Sepulchre London formerly and in some official uses Saint Sepulchre-without-Newgate is the largest Anglican parish church in the City of London. It stands on the north side of Holborn Viaduct across a crossroads from the Old Bailey, and its parish takes in Smithfield Market. During medieval times, the site lay outside ("without") the city wall, west of the Newgate. It has London's musicians' chapel in which a book of remembrance sits and an October/November requiem takes place – unusual for a church associated with Low Church Evangelicalism. The church has two local army regiment memorials. The vicar is appointed by St John's College, Oxford, which has held the church's patronage since 1622. The church is within the Newgate Street Conservation Area.

The Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane was one of the last surviving galleried coaching inns in London and stood near St Paul's Cathedral between the 17th and late 19th centuries. It was built in the seventeenth century, before being rebuilt and extended after the Great Fire. The replacement of horse-drawn coaches by the railways inevitably led to its decline, finally being pulled down in 1876 to be replaced by warehouses.Shortly before its demolition in 1869, the 'Book of Days' had an entry for the Oxford Arms. The other galleried inn of Warwick-lane is the Oxford Arms, within a recess on the west side, and nearly adjoining to the residentiary houses of St Paul's in Amen-corner. It is one of the best specimens of the old London inns remaining in the metropolis. As you advance you observe a red brick pedimented facade of the time of Charles II, beneath which you enter the inn-yard, which has, on three of its sides, two stories of balustraded wooden galleries, with exterior staircases leading to the chambers on each floor: the fourth side being occupied by stabling, built against part of old London Wall. Final dismantling of the Oxford Arms was not without some controversy, in representing the passing of an era as it did. While the outcry was not enough to save what had become an outmoded institution, its disappearance resulted in a change of public opinion that led indirectly to the foundation of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings set up in 1877 by William Morris and other enthusiasts.

St Audoen within Newgate (also known as St Ewan within Newgate and St Ewin within Newgate) was a mediaeval church in the City of London situated on the corner of Newgate Street and Eldeness Lane (now Warwick Lane). It was first mentioned as Parochia sancti Audoeni in around 1220.In 1546, Henry VIII gave the church, along with St Nicholas Shambles and the dissolved Christ Church priory to the City corporation. A new parish was created for Christ Church, out of those of St Audoen and St Nicholas, and part of that of St Sepulchre. St Audoen's was demolished in around 1583.

The Fortune of War was an ancient public house in Smithfield, London. It was located on a corner originally known as 'Pie Corner', today at the junction of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane where the Golden Boy of Pye Corner resides, the name deriving from the magpie represented on the sign of an adjoining tavern. It is allegedly the place where the Great Fire of London stopped, after destroying a large part of the City of London in 1666. The statue of a cherub, the Golden Boy of Pye Corner, initially built in the front of the pub, commemorates the end of the fire.

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in 1403; it received a royal charter in 1557. It held a monopoly over the publishing industry and was officially responsible for setting and enforcing regulations until the enactment of the Statute of Anne, also known as the Copyright Act of 1710. Once the company received its charter, "the company’s role was to regulate and discipline the industry, define proper conduct and maintain its own corporate privileges."The company members, including master, wardens, assistants, liverymen, freemen and apprentices are mostly involved with the modern visual and graphic communications industries that have evolved from the company's original trades. These include printing, papermaking, packaging, office products, engineering, advertising, design, photography, film and video production, publishing of books, newspapers and periodicals and digital media. The company's principal purpose nowadays is to provide an independent forum where its members can advance the interests (strategic, educational, training and charitable) of the industries associated with the company.