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The notorious Newgate Prison features in many famous works of fiction; from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales to the V For Vendetta film, the building was a prominent and foreboding institution. This was in part due to its long history - established in 1188 and and in use until 1902 - but also because of the squalid conditions that inmates experienced. For much of this London penitentiary's existence, the prisoners lived in close proximity to each other and it was a breeding ground for diseases. The novelist Henry Fielding, in fact, went as far as to call it a "prototype of Hell". If all of that wasn't terrible enough, there were also tales that the building had a supernatural denizen as well, and one that wasn't particularly friendly either - The Black Dog of Newgate.
The Black Dog of Newgate
In 1589 a certain Luke Hutton was arrested and imprisoned for stealing surgical implements. During his sojourn in Newgate Prison, in the year 1596, this inmate wrote the story called The Black Dog of Newgate. The pamphlet details how, in the Middle Ages, during the reign of Henry III, a man was thrown into Newgate because of sorcery charges. Circumstances were dire in the jail because a famine was raging in England, and the in-mates turned on the new arrival, to kill him for his body's flesh. The sorcerer was overwhelmed and died but his body morphed into a living, gigantic black dog and the prisoners were driven mad by this sight, so much so that they overpowered their jailers and scattered as far away as possible. None of the prisoners could find peace though; everywhere they looked the black hound appeared to them until they had paid for their crimes.
The Black Dog of Newgate continued to wander around the prison, even after its thirst for vengeance had been slaked. Often he would appear in London as a street sweeper, but could quickly take on his monstrous countenance if there was fresh prey nearby. This creature is also said to have accompanied the accused before they were to be hanged. Luke Hutton describes the appearance of the beast as follows:
"A Cerberus, nay worse, hee rise as wide did gape,
His heares all Snakes curling, they will not part,
Cole black his hew, like Torches glow his eyes,
His breath doth poyson, smooke from his nostrils flyes
His countenance gastly, fearefull, grim, and payle,
His fomie mouth still gapeth for his pray:
With Tigers teeth he spares none to assayle,
His lyppes Hell gates, orepaynted with decay.
His tongue the clapper, sounding woofull knell,
Towling poore men to ring a peale in hell" (Hutton B3)
There are indications that the Black Dog of Newgate might have been a personification of the black standing stone in the dungeon of the prison, which was called Limbo, against which condemned inmates dashed their head during suicide attempts. The monstrousity was thus a vivid manifestation of the hopelessness that prisoners, such as Luke Hutton, must have felt in the dark and cramped conditions of the prison. It was written as a morality tale of remorse, and was likely penned to secure an early release from confinement. Hutton's own tale however would come to an end in 1598, when he was hanged at the gallows in York.
In the seventeenth century black dogs became associated with crime and death, in part because of the The Black Dog of Newgate tale and the eponymous play, which was performed in 1603 and used the earlier pamphlet as a source, and the story became embedded into the folklore of London. It is said that during the darkest nights, a black canine form can still be seen skulking in Amen Court, always accompanied with the sound of dragging footsteps and a strong odour.
Thank you for reading!
The notorious Newgate Prison features in many famous works of fiction; from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales to the V For Vendetta film, the building was a prominent and foreboding institution. This was in part due to its long history - established in 1188 and and in use until 1902 - but also because of the squalid conditions that inmates experienced. For much of this London penitentiary's existence, the prisoners lived in close proximity to each other and it was a breeding ground for diseases. The novelist Henry Fielding, in fact, went as far as to call it a "prototype of Hell". If all of that wasn't terrible enough, there were also tales that the building had a supernatural denizen as well, and one that wasn't particularly friendly either - The Black Dog of Newgate.
The Black Dog of Newgate
In 1589 a certain Luke Hutton was arrested and imprisoned for stealing surgical implements. During his sojourn in Newgate Prison, in the year 1596, this inmate wrote the story called The Black Dog of Newgate. The pamphlet details how, in the Middle Ages, during the reign of Henry III, a man was thrown into Newgate because of sorcery charges. Circumstances were dire in the jail because a famine was raging in England, and the in-mates turned on the new arrival, to kill him for his body's flesh. The sorcerer was overwhelmed and died but his body morphed into a living, gigantic black dog and the prisoners were driven mad by this sight, so much so that they overpowered their jailers and scattered as far away as possible. None of the prisoners could find peace though; everywhere they looked the black hound appeared to them until they had paid for their crimes.
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| Newgate Prison Exercise by Gustave Dore. |
The Black Dog of Newgate continued to wander around the prison, even after its thirst for vengeance had been slaked. Often he would appear in London as a street sweeper, but could quickly take on his monstrous countenance if there was fresh prey nearby. This creature is also said to have accompanied the accused before they were to be hanged. Luke Hutton describes the appearance of the beast as follows:
"A Cerberus, nay worse, hee rise as wide did gape,
His heares all Snakes curling, they will not part,
Cole black his hew, like Torches glow his eyes,
His breath doth poyson, smooke from his nostrils flyes
His countenance gastly, fearefull, grim, and payle,
His fomie mouth still gapeth for his pray:
With Tigers teeth he spares none to assayle,
His lyppes Hell gates, orepaynted with decay.
His tongue the clapper, sounding woofull knell,
Towling poore men to ring a peale in hell" (Hutton B3)
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| An illustration depicting The Black Dog of Newgate, from the book "The Discovery of a London Monster Called the Black Dog of Newgate", published in 1638. |
There are indications that the Black Dog of Newgate might have been a personification of the black standing stone in the dungeon of the prison, which was called Limbo, against which condemned inmates dashed their head during suicide attempts. The monstrousity was thus a vivid manifestation of the hopelessness that prisoners, such as Luke Hutton, must have felt in the dark and cramped conditions of the prison. It was written as a morality tale of remorse, and was likely penned to secure an early release from confinement. Hutton's own tale however would come to an end in 1598, when he was hanged at the gallows in York.
 |
| "Newgate Prison" by Cecil Doughty. |
In the seventeenth century black dogs became associated with crime and death, in part because of the The Black Dog of Newgate tale and the eponymous play, which was performed in 1603 and used the earlier pamphlet as a source, and the story became embedded into the folklore of London. It is said that during the darkest nights, a black canine form can still be seen skulking in Amen Court, always accompanied with the sound of dragging footsteps and a strong odour.
Thank you for reading!
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