Alex and the team behind one of the North-east’s newest visitor attractions invited me to have a look around this week for Northsound 1.
It’s Scottish Tourism Week, and they’ve just announced the opening of the latest section of the museum, the former inmates’ barbershop.
Peterhead Prison Museum opened in 2016 just three years after convicts moved out and across over the wall to the new HMP Grampian.
I’ve heard endless friends and colleagues raving about visiting the museum, I bet you have too!
The history of Peterhead Prison stretches back to 1888, built as the first of its kind with additional buildings added across the decades including as recently as the 1960s.
What struck me the moment I walked into ‘D Hall’ was the start realisation of the conditions prisoners were living in and officers were working in just a handful of years ago. Slopping out has regularly made the headlines over the years, to see first hand what that entailed brought it to life.
…and as former prison officers will tell you, it wasn’t too pleasant for them either! You’ll hear more about that from the audio guide you’ll take with you on your trip round.
HMP Peterhead hit the national headlines in 1987 when inmates broke out of their cells and took control of a prison wing, a riot that lasted five days and needed the SAS to intervene with smoke bombs and stun guns to restore order!
Jackie Stuart, one of two guards taken hostage by the prisoners is now a volunteer guide at the museum. If you’re visiting, be sure to stop and speak, Jackie will recite his experiences and stories from working the halls first hand and they’re fascinating to hear.
Walking around the cells and corridors of a jail once home to over 150 inmates is eye-opening – Jackie’s stories bring those corridors to life with riveting detail.
Add it to your list of places to go, you’ll love it!