Strangeways...

The ventilation tower of Britain's largest high security prison is an infamous landmark on the Manchester city centre skyline. There are over 1200 prisoners serving sentences inside including murderers, rapists, drug dealers and terrorists. Designed by Town Hall architect Alfred Waterhouse and situated in the Cheetham Hill area, it was opened in 1868. Her Majesty's Prison, Manchester was originally known as 'Strangeways' until major rioting by prisoners in 1990. When I was a kid I always imagined that the prison took its name because of the "strange-ways" of its inmates! The reality is that it retained the name of Strangeways Park and Gardens that it was built on. Male and female executions were carried out at the prison until 1964 including the famous seven seconds 'quickest hanging' by hangman Albert Pierrepoint of murderer James Inglis in 1951. The prison became male-only in 1963. In recent times the facility has been noted to have the highest suicide rate of inmates than any other prison in the UK.