| Description | Minutes of a meeting of the deputed magistrates for the North and East Ridings on 20 May 1802 sent by John Watson at York to Thomas Ewbank esquire deputy Clerk of the Peace at Malton for the perusal of the magistrates assembled at the Sessions. The meeting was held to consider the presentments of the Grand Jury at the last Assizes. The gaol at the Castle of York was presented as being in need of additions and enlargements for the safe custody of prisoners, and the minutes include a list of recommendations. If the ridings continue to send an indefinite number of prisoners to be punished in the gaol, it will be impossible to calculate what buildings will be needed for their reception. Prisoners convicted of petty offences should be punished in their respective houses of correction rather than at the gaol at York. No magistrate from the West Riding attended this meeting, which was therefore adjourned and the execution of the proposed recommendations suspended. The clerk of the meeting is to forward a copy of the resolutions to the Clerk of the Peace for the West Riding |