NOSTALGIA: Like hamsters in a wheel, these convicts went around in circles

Inmates at Kingston Prison, Portsmouth, on the treadwheel which was abolished in 1898.

For these were convicts in Kingston Prison, Portsmouth, seen in a rare and unusual late 19th century photograph.

It, and all the others here today, are among dozens of pictures of the city unearthed by author Philip MacDougall in his new book Historic England: Portsmouth (Amberley £14.99). Many of the photographs are taken from the Historic England archive containing 12 million images.

Kingston Prison dated to 1877 when prison life was considerably more brutal than today.

St Andrews (known as the Crinoline Church) at Eastney Barracks in 1905.

In this picture inmates are working on a treadwheel.

Designed to keep prisoners occupied, the wheel was kept rotating by each convict stepping on a series of slats. As the wheel turned the prisoners were forced to maintain a steady stepping pace. It was abolished in all British prisons by the Prisons Act 1898.

The second picture is the deep-diving test tank at what was once HMS Vernon (now Gunwharf Quays) taken in 1994. It was the base with responsibility for training in diving, demolitions and mine warfare.