Dartmoor Prison Museum acquires new items ahead of reopening

The museum will reopen on 10 February

New additions, including paintings and a model ship, have been added to Dartmoor Prison Museum ahead of its reopening.

Museum curator Paul Finegan said the painting is of a former Dartmoor prisoner painted in 1957.

He said items found in the prison or from families of ex-prison staff were often donated to the museum.

The museum - which is closed annually for winter - is located in the old dairy building.

The model ship was donated to Dartmoor Prison Museum

"The model ship was donated to us by Syvia Smith from Winkleigh. It was previously owned by her father in law and he obtained it in the 1940s and he believed it was made by Napoleonic prisoners or war at Dartmoor between 1809 and 1816," Mr Finegan said.

"A resident in Princetown also had the paintings by a former prisoner at Dartmoor.

"It includes a painting of a former prisoner Donald Hume who is infamous in his own right.

"The artist was another Dartmoor prisoner, Bernard Pearsall."

David Hume was known as The Rainham Marshes Killer.

The paintings were added to the collection at the end of 2023.

Mr Finegan said people visited the museum from around the world as Dartmoor Prison was "well known".

He added visitor numbers were the highest they had been since 2019.

'Open people's eyes'

"We had more visitors in 2023 compared to 2022. We were slightly down on 2019 levels, but last year we noticed an increase in overseas visitors," he said.

"A lot of people are interested in prisons and are intrigued of what goes on inside."

Mr Finegan said Dartmoor Prison's most famous prisoners over the years included the serial killer John George Haigh, who was in Dartmoor Prison in the 1940s.

Mr Finegan said: "Ronnie Biggs, the great train robber, was here before the great train robbery in 1955. He did seven years at Dartmoor Prison for stealing a car and sherry - we take sherry very seriously here in Devon.

"The most infamous prisoner we had was Frank Mitchell, the Mad Axeman.

"He was an associate of the Kray twins. They facilitated his escape in 1966. He was taken to London to a safehouse and has never been seen again."