Days of Horror

Death Behind the Walls: Executions at Manchester’s Strangeways Prison

For over a century, Manchester’s Strangeways Prison – officially known as HMP Manchester – served not only as a place of incarceration but also as a place of execution. Between 1869 and 1965, a total of 100 people were executed within its forbidding walls. The stories of these condemned individuals, and the secrets buried beneath the prison, form a chilling chapter in the city’s history.

The History of Executions at Strangeways

Strangeways Prison opened in 1869 as a Victorian symbol of penal reform. Its design was heavily influenced by the radial layout popular in the 19th century, allowing guards to oversee multiple wings from a central hub. But beyond the architectural innovation, the prison quickly became one of the primary execution sites in England after public hangings were abolished in 1868.

From 1869 to 1965, executions were carried out in private within the prison walls. The hangings were carried out by some of the most well-known British executioners, including Albert Pierrepoint, who conducted many executions at Strangeways during his career.

The condemned were held in the condemned cell, often just yards from the gallows. The executions were carried out at 8:00 a.m., and only a few officials were allowed to witness the event—typically the governor, a doctor, a chaplain, and a representative from the Home Office.

Burial Within the Prison Grounds

Under British law at the time, prisoners executed for murder were buried in unmarked graves within the prison grounds. This was both a legal and symbolic practice: their bodies were denied to families and society as part of their punishment. The burials were carried out quietly and swiftly, usually the same day as the execution. The grave sites were simple and without ceremony, and the names of the dead were kept hidden from public view.

Each body was wrapped in a shroud, placed in a plain wooden coffin, and buried close to the execution site – in a designated burial yard within the prison. No headstone marked the spot, and even fellow inmates were often unaware of the graves’ exact locations.

The End of Executions and a Changing Attitude

The final execution at Strangeways took place on 13 August 1964, when Gwynne Owen Evans (real name: John Robson Walby) was hanged for the murder of John Alan West, a laundry van driver from Cumbria.

Evans was executed simultaneously with his accomplice Peter Anthony Allen, who was hanged at Walton Prison in Liverpool. This synchronized execution was an unusual act and became a grim historical milestone – the last executions ever carried out in the United Kingdom.

Evans and Allen had planned to rob John West but ended up beating and stabbing him to death during the botched burglary. Both were quickly arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Despite appeals for clemency and growing public discomfort with the death penalty, the executions proceeded.

Gwynne Owen Evans’s execution was carried out by Harry Allen, one of Britain’s official hangmen, while Peter Allen was executed by Robert Leslie Stewart at Walton.

Following his execution, Evans was buried in an unmarked grave within the prison, as was standard at the time.

The 1990 Riot and Prison Expansion

In April 1990, Strangeways was the site of the worst prison riot in British history, lasting 25 days and causing extensive damage to the facility. The riot led to widespread calls for prison reform and the need to modernize outdated and overcrowded facilities. As part of the subsequent rebuilding and expansion efforts in the early 1990s, parts of the prison grounds – including the old execution and burial areas – were redeveloped.

It was during this expansion that the remains of 63 executed prisoners were recovered from the burial yard.

Reburial at Blackley Cemetery

The exhumed remains were reinterred at Blackley Cemetery in North Manchester, where they were placed in two plots : C2710 and C2711.

The reburial marked a quiet but powerful acknowledgment of the complex legacy of capital punishment in the UK. While the executed had once been denied even a name in death, they were now given a collective place of remembrance.

Legacy and Reflection

Today, HMP Manchester continues to operate, but the gallows are long gone. The prison’s dark past, however, is not forgotten. The stories of those executed within Strangeways, and the eventual exhumation and reburial of their remains, speak to broader questions about justice, punishment, and the right to dignity – even in death.

Though hidden from sight for decades, the graves beneath Strangeways tell a story that refuses to be buried: a story of lives ended by the state, and the long journey toward recognition, regret, and remembrance.