HMP Belfast, which stands for Her Majesty’s Prison, was built with basalt rock on Crumlin Road in 1845. The ten-acre gaol was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon, a prominent Belfast architect. The Crum, as it was unfavorably called, featured over five hundred cells measuring 12 by 7 feet where prisoners were kept in solitary confinement. After holding over 25,000 prisoners during its 150 year history, the jail closed in 1996. Since 2012, the Crumlin Road Gaol has become a tourist attraction. Notice the old wooden pillory once used to secure a prisoner’s head and hands during punishment.
