What Portsmouth's Kingston Prison looked like before its closure

Portsmouth’s former HM Prison Kingston has been converted into 267 homes, with the Victorian gaol and guard house being given a new lease of life after the prison closed in 2013. Homes have also been built on its grounds.

Before it was transformed the iconic structure, which was completed in 1877, was a prime example of a radial prison design which found favour in the late 19th century to house prisoners in radiating cells which could then be observed from a central point. In its later years it housed elderly male prisoners serving life sentences.

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The building’s cell wings, chapel and infirmary are being re-modelled for residential use, with new-build, low-rise apartment blocks located to the edges of the site. The prison’s listed walls have been kept and its gatehouse redeveloped, with many of the new apartments already sold, while construction on other parts of the site continues.

Here we look back at the prison as it was before it closed, as well as what the site looks like now.

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