![]() Their use was popularised and exaggerated by 19th century novels but most rooms originally thought of as oubliettes in Britain have turned out to be storerooms or cisterns. Additionally they were not widely used anywhere and especially not in England. "The internal brickwork of the tower dates from the 18th century when the tower seems to have been adapted as a water cistern which would account for the trap door. 'I think it seems unlikely an oubliette existed' This story has been republished from 2020. The confusion seems to stem from an entrance at the top of the tower." This was said to be where the existing artillery tower is, however it was still being used as a gun emplacement when the island was a prison as we were intermittently at war with the Dutch. An oubliette is a cell entered by a trap door, once prisoners are incarcerated they are generally left to die. He pointed me towards more information he'd written on his fascinating website, which says: "There was a local rumour mentioned to me by more than one person that there was an oubliette used as part of the prison. We spoke over the phone and I mentioned the story of the oubliette. After running conservation sites across the world he landed a job on Drake's Island as the gatekeeper and has picked up plenty of knowledge since. He was in the Royal Engineers for 22 years and became a diving instructor when he left. You put them in and forgot about them.īob King doesn't consider himself a historian, but it's arguable that nobody knows the island better than he does. It's because once a prisoner entered an oubliette, they didn't come out. Ironically I forgot to mention why the dungeon's name comes from the French word meaning to forget. Some had spikes on the bottom and all of them were gruesome. The stuff of nightmares.Īn oubliette is a tiny, vertical shaft only large enough for an individual to stand up. ![]() The horrific punishment has been compared to the Chokey, from Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Its name comes from the French verb 'oublier' meaning to forget. An 'oubliette' is briefly mentioned as being part of the island's prison. ![]() Three people are known to have died there. It was used as a state prison for around 25 years from 1660. There were no more than 12 prisoners on Drake's Island and not all were held at the same time. ![]() The eerie South West coast island previously had the name of St Nicholas and has been a chapel, a fort, an observatory, a place of refuge and most importantly for this story, a prison. There is an abandoned island off the coast of Plymouth which is thought to be the home to an oubliette - a cell entered by a trap door - where prisoners were incarcerated and left to die. ![]()
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