---
title: "Bristol Gaol"
date: "2021-04-28T13:29:51+01:00"
modified: "2021-04-28T13:41:01+01:00"
url: "https://heritage.humanists.uk/bristol-gaol/"
post_id: 4141
categories: ["Atheism", "Freedom of Belief", "Freedom of Speech", "Human Rights", "Secularism", "Social Reform"]
tags: ["Atheism", "Blasphemy", "Freethought", "Journalism", "Owenism", "Press freedom", "Secularism"]
---

# Bristol Gaol

Atheist Charles Southwell was imprisoned in Bristol Gaol for blasphemous libel in 1842. Southwell had written an article in his periodical, the *Oracle of Reason*, criticising the *Bible*. For this he was sentenced to a year in Bristol Gaol and fined £100, an enormous sum. He served the full sentence and was released on 6 February 1843.







While in prison he wrote a pamphlet entitled *Paley refuted in his own words*, and probably wrote the autobiographical *The Confessions of a Freethinker*. [George Jacob Holyoake](https://heritage.humanists.uk/george-jacob-holyoake/), himself charged with blasphemous libel in 1842, took over editorship of Southwell’s *Oracle of Reason*.







The gaol was closed in 1883 and largely demolished in 1898. All that remains to mark the site today is the granite front entrance on Cumberland Road, Bristol. It resembles a small castle complete with its rusting mock portcullis and a small section of outer wall.







### Read more







[Bristol New Gaol at Prison History](https://www.prisonhistory.org/prison/bristol-new-gaol/)







[The New Gaol at Bristol Law Society](https://www.bristollawsociety.com/the-new-gaol/)







[Bristol Museums](http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/narratives.php?irn=2790)







---







Main image: Entrance to the Cumberland Road Gaol by [GloomyCorp](https://www.flickr.com/photos/89869792@N00/14010866/). Licensed [CC BY-NC 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/)







 See also 
----------

- [    Matilda Roalfe  ](https://heritage.humanists.uk/matilda-roalfe/)
- [    Susannah Wright  ](https://heritage.humanists.uk/susannah-wright/)
- [    George Jacob Holyoake  ](https://heritage.humanists.uk/george-jacob-holyoake/)
- [  Robert Wedderburn  ](https://heritage.humanists.uk/robert-wedderburn/)