Old Provost

Old Provost Prison
Old Provost Prison
	The Old Provost March 2013
General information
Status	Provincial Heritage Site
Address	The Old Provost, Lucas Avenue
Town or city	Grahamstown
Country	South Africa
Coordinates	33.314989°S 26.519842°E
Completed	1838
Renovated	1982

The Old Provost is a military prison finished in early 1838 as part of efforts to fortify the small city of Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. These efforts were part of the Governor of the Cape Colony's, Sir Benjamin d'Urban, 1835 defensive plan which includes the building of Fort Selwyn and the fortification of the Drostdy.

Sketch layout

It is situated on Lucas Avenue between the Old Military Hospital, which is now part of the Rhodes University Botany Department, and the Grahamstown Botanical Gardens.

Built to a design adapted from Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon prison. This design is unique in the British Cape Colony. Designed to allow for constant surveillance of the prisoners. The prison is shaped as a quarter circle with eight cells, roughly 2m by 3m each, running along the curved arc of wall with the exercise area's for each cell radiating out from the double story watch tower, which has portals looking into each exercise area.[1]

In 1937 the Old Provost was declared a heritage site. In 1982 and 1983 the Old Provost underwent restoration and was put under control of the Albany Museum. During the restoration the remains of some of the exercise area walls were discovered and restored.

Present

The Old Provost has been renovated and operates as the Provost Café as of the 8th of April 2013.

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References

Scott, Patricia Elena. "AN APPROACH TO THE URBAN HISTORY OF EARLY VICTORIAN GRAHAMSTOWN 1832-53 WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE INTERIORS AND MATERIAL CULTURE OF DOMESTIC DWELLINGS" (PDF). Rhodes University. Retrieved 7 March 2013.

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[1] Scott, Patricia Elena. "AN APPROACH TO THE URBAN HISTORY OF EARLY VICTORIAN GRAHAMSTOWN 1832-53 WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE INTERIORS AND MATERIAL CULTURE OF DOMESTIC DWELLINGS" (PDF). Rhodes University. Retrieved 7 March 2013.