In 1941, the prison on Longport - an early nineteenth-century prison which had closed its doors in March 1922 - became Naval Detention Barracks (or ‘quarters’; possibly for recalcitrant personnel?). This use may have had quite a low profile; in mid-to-late October 1941 the Canterbury civil-defence Emergency Committee sought the use of this building as an alternative police station should the City Police Station on Pound Lane be damaged, only to be informed that the building was already ‘in use by the Naval Authorities’. It seems to have remained in such use until 1946, reopening as a civilian prison the following year.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : unknown
Date of visit :

McIntosh K.H., H.M. Prison, Longport, Canterbury (Article in monograph). SKE15460.

McIntosh K.H., H.M. Prison, Longport, Canterbury (Article in monograph). Ske15460.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE15458.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). Ske15458.

Canterbury Fortress headquarters, 01/01/42, War Diary Canterbury Fortress 1942 (Unpublished document). SKE15459.

Canterbury Fortress headquarters, 01/01/42, War Diary Canterbury Fortress 1942 (Unpublished document). Ske15459.