Littledean Jail

Littledean Jail

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Welcome to the Crime Through Time Collection at Littledean Jail website.

31 Mar 2017

Welcome to Littledean Jail, a former house of correction, police station and courthouse is the county’s most talked about, most unorthodox, not to be missed historical visitor attraction set in the Royal Forest of Dean.

The 'Alcatraz of the Forest', Littledean Jail is not only home of the infamous 'CRIME THROUGH TIME MUSEUM' - the only museum of it's kind in the World open to the public, but it also houses the largest collection of 'QUADROPHENIA' memorabilia.

On top of these two fabulous collections, Littledean Jail also contains a unique, thought provoking and unrivalled private collection of worldwide interest... without fear or favour... witness for yourselves an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of true crime material, ephemera, murderabilia - a menagerie of freaks of nature, beasts of the jungle, oddities & curiosities - Nazi holocaust years exhibition, Nazi SS militaria, historic, nolstagic, vintage and modern day signed photographs, tv & film memorabilia & much More!

 

Now also exhibiting "Who Dares Wins" With the SAS Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW), SBS (Special Boat Service) UK Special Forces and Beyond, here at the Littledean Jail's Crime Through Time collection.

We also feature the heroics of British Secret Agent heroine Violette Szabo, along with other SOE(Special Operations Executive) heroes and heroines.


We also host paranormal investigations here at Littledean Jail.
Below is a paranormal clip by one of the paranormal organisations that hosts such events here, and a video of the Iranian embassy siege.



NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN, OR THOSE EASILY OFFENDED, DISTURBED OR OF A SENSITIVE NATURE.

LITTLEDEAN JAIL, CHURCH ST, LITTLEDEAN, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK. TEL: 01594 826659.

BRITISH WW2 FEMALE SOE (SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE ) SECRET AGENT AND HEROINE VIOLETTE SZABO, GEORGE CROSS,M.B.E, CROIX de GUERRE, MEDAILLE DE LA RESISTANCE – 1921-1945

HERE AT THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL WE FEATURE THE BRITISH SECRET AGENT – VIOLETTE SZABO, ALONG WITH OTHER SOE HERO’S AND HEROINES, SAS (SPECIAL AIR SERVICE) AND OTHER UK SPECIAL FORCES.

NOT FORGETTING OF COURSE OUR WW2 NAZI HOLOCAUST EXHIBITION FOR WHICH WE FEATURE AND INCLUDE MANY OF THE ABOVE WHO HAD BEEN CAPTURED, TORTURED AND SUBSEQUENTLY EXECUTED BY THE NAZI’S DURING THIS HORRIFIC PERIOD.

WE ALSO HAVE A NUMBER OF PERSONALLY SIGNED EXHIBIT ITEMS KINDLY DONATED TO THE MUSEUM AND ON DISPLAY FROM VIOLETTE SZABO’S DAUGHTER – TANIA WHO HAS CARRIED ON THE LEGACY OF HER MOTHER SINCE HER DEATH IN 1945.

Violette Szabo G.CViolette Szabo G.C

 

Now on permanent display.
The Quadrophenia Collection

Quadrophenia Poster

The Quadrophenia Collections was previously owned by British Mod and Scooter and Quadrophenia mad fanatic David Wyburn. This remarkable and nostalgic Quadrophenia collection was acquired by Littledean Jail In November 2007 and subsequently added to its own Quadrophenia collection. Opening here in April 2008 …being the 30th Anniversary of when Quadrophenia was filmed in 1978 and released in cinemas around the UK in 1979.

 

Quote:

“This is the best collection of Quadrophenia memorabilia I have ever seen!!!”

Franc Roddam …Quadrophenia Film director… (1978-1979) at the Quad Reunion 2007, Earls Court, London, UK.

More about the Quadrophenia bikes...
More about the Quadrophenia film...

Prison Entrance with Quadrophenia Mopeds

Quadrophenia – The Film (1978-1979).

Quadrophenia was the greatest British youth film ever made!!

Quadrophenia was filmed in Britain in 1978 and released in 1979. Quadrophenia is still to this day highly regarded as being one of the greatest British films of all times. It still retains its own iconic magnetism and has a massive cult following worldwide.

Quadrophenia when originally released was panned by critics for its large amounts of drug- fuelled, pill-popping, sex, bad language, violence and profanity and drug use throughout the film, which at the time were fairly uncommon in Film (unlike today’s film and TV industry that revels and relies upon the need to introduce as much sex, violence, drug use and bad language).

 

Quote:

“I myself was punk rocker at the time the film Quadrophenia was released in 1979. It was always one of my most favourite films of all time and still is, despite preferring the heavy rock music to that of the Mod scene.

It is a great privilege to now own and display such a fantastic collection and hope that it remains a shrine here in it’s own right to most, scooter and rocker fans to what is still highly acclaimed as on of Britain’s greatest ever films.”

Andy Jones, the Jailer, Littledean Jail.

 

 

 



Please note:

During the Winter season when closed here at Littledean Jail from end of October – Easter some of the Quadrohphenia Collection may well be available to hire for travelling exhibitions, themed events, photo-shoots, memorabilia shows etc.

Please contact Littledean Jail for more details about the Quadrophenia Collection


Please visit crimethroughtime@littledeanjail at Facebook for more information about 'A Taste of Northern Soul down here in the South' exhibition.

We host paranormal investigations here at Littledean Jail.
Below is a paranormal clip by one of the paranormal organisations that hosts such events here.

Littledean Jail Ghost Hunts - Gloucester

Littledean Jail in Gloucester is a location with a long history of crime and punishment. Known as the Alcatraz of the Forest, this building has been used as a courthouse, police station and prison during its 225 year history and ghost hunts here have produced some startling results. Slamming doors, heavy footsteps, menacing shadows are all a common experience on a ghost hunt here and Littledean Jail has become a favourite with paranormal investigators as a result. Your ghost hunt will take you on a terrifying journey - are you ready to be locked in?




Little Dean Jail Paranormal Ghost Investigation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page Under Construction

The Nazi SS & Holocaust Years (lest we forget!)

31 Mar 2017

WHAT WAS THE HOLOCAUST?
In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany would occupy or influence during World War II. By 1945, the Germans and their collaborators killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the “Final Solution,” the Nazi policy to murder the Jews of Europe. Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). At least 200,000 mentally or physically disabled patients, mainly Germans, living in institutional settings, were murdered in the so-called Euthanasia Program.

As Nazi tyranny spread across Europe, the Germans and their collaborators persecuted and murdered millions of other people. Between two and three million Soviet prisoners of war were murdered or died of starvation, disease, neglect, or maltreatment. The Germans targeted the non-Jewish Polish intelligentsia for killing, and deported millions of Polish and Soviet civilians for forced labour in Germany or in occupied Poland, where these individuals worked and often died under deplorable conditions. From the earliest years of the Nazi regime, German authorities persecuted homosexuals and others whose behaviour did not match prescribed social norms. German police officials targeted thousands of political opponents (including Communists, Socialists, and trade unionists) and religious dissidents (such as Jehovah’s Witnesses). Many of these individuals died as a result of incarceration and maltreatment.

 

ADMINISTRATION OF THE “FINAL SOLUTION”

In the early years of the Nazi regime, the National Socialist government established concentration camps to detain real and imagined political and ideological opponents. Increasingly in the years before the outbreak of war, SS and police officials incarcerated Jews, Roma, and other victims of ethnic and racial hatred in these camps. To concentrate and monitor the Jewish population as well as to facilitate later deportation of the Jews, the Germans and their collaborators created ghettos, transit camps, and forced-labour camps for Jews during the war years. The German authorities also established numerous forced-labour camps, both in the so-called Greater German Reich and in German-occupied territory, for non-Jews whose labour the Germans sought to exploit.

Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) and, later, militarized battalions of Order Police officials, moved behind German lines to carry out mass-murder operations against Jews, Roma, and Soviet state and Communist Party officials. German SS and police units, supported by units of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS, murdered more than a million Jewish men, women, and children, and hundreds of thousands of others. Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi German authorities deported millions of Jews from Germany, from occupied territories, and from the countries of many of its Axis allies to ghettos and to killing centres, often called extermination camps, where they were murdered in specially developed gassing facilities.

 

THE END OF THE HOLOCAUST

In the final months of the war, SS guards moved camp inmates by train or on forced marches, often called “death marches,” in an attempt to prevent the Allied liberation of large numbers of prisoners. As Allied forces moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Germany, they began to encounter and liberate concentration camp prisoners, as well as prisoners en route by forced march from one camp to another. The marches continued until May 7, 1945, the day the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. For the western Allies, World War II officially ended in Europe on the next day, May 8 (V-E Day), while Soviet forces announced their “Victory Day” on May 9, 1945.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, many of the survivors found shelter in displaced persons (DP) camps administered by the Allied powers. Between 1948 and 1951, almost 700,000 Jews emigrated to Israel, including 136,000 Jewish displaced persons from Europe. Other Jewish DPs emigrated to the United States and other nations. The last DP camp closed in 1957. The crimes committed during the Holocaust devastated most European Jewish communities and eliminated hundreds of Jewish communities in occupied eastern Europe entirely.


See more on our blog, The Nazi SS & Holocaust Years
& WWII Heroine, Violette Zsabo

 A FULL SCALE REPLICA MODEL OF THE IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE BUILDING AS USED BY “B” SQUADRON 22 SAS REGIMENT FOR THE PREPARATION FOR THE SUCCESSFUL FINAL ASSAULT ON 5 MAY 1980, WHICH RESULTED IN 19 HOSTAGES BEING RESCUED AND 5 OF THE 6 TERRORISTS BEING KILLED (THE 6th BEING CAPTURED

JSN_2185

 

HERE IS A UNIQUE REPLICA SCALE MODEL OF THE IRANIAN EMBASSY AS WAS CONSTRUCTED AND USED BY “B” SQUADRON 22 SAS REGIMENT IN THE RUN-UP TO THE FINAL ASSAULT ON 5 MAY 1980 …. RESULTING IN THE KILLING OF 5 OF THE 6 TERRORISTS AND THE RELEASE OF THE REMAINING 19 HOSTAGES .

THIS BEING KINDLY HAND BUILT BY FORMER “A” SQUADRON FREEFALL TROOPER …BOB PODESTA FOR DISPLAY AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL’S… “SAS WHO DARES WINS EXHIBITION ” . THE MODEL HAS BEEN FURTHER CUSTOMISED WITH THE HELP OF PAUL BRIDGMAN WITH THE INCLUSION OF THE VARIOUS FIGURES DEPICTING HOSTAGES, TERRORISTS (ALL IN GREEN JACKETS AND BLACK CLOTHING ), THE SAS TROOPERS AND RESERVES STORMING THE EMBASSY BUILDING AND VARIOUS OTHER SCENES RELATING TO THE EVENT .

 

 

More than just a jail!

Crime Through Time Collection
PHOTO SHOWS THE AFTERMATH OF THE MURDER SCENE AND FATAL SHOOTING OF WPC YVONNE FLETCHER WITH HER POLICE HAT SEEN HERE IN AND AMONGST SOME OF HER COLLEAGUES POLICE HELMETS.
See more at our extensive Crime Through Time Collection

Chales Bronson


Once you enter the jail, through where the old courthouse once stood (sadly demolished and ripped_out by its previous owners back in 1986) you will come face to face with an extraordinary Aladdin's Cave of curiosities. This eclectic private collection touches on a great many sad, disturbing, quirky and at times taboo subject matters - so again be warned!!!

It is an intriguing collection which includes a great many rare and historically significant exhibit items including the hangman’s noose that was used on the man they couldn't hang - John 'Babbacombe' Lee. The skull remains of the last man in Britain to be gibbetted, then hung, drawn and quartered and touching closer to more modern times, you'll find the tools and belongings of Gloucestershire’s infamous serial killers... Fred and Rose West on display.

Dave Courtney, 'Pretty Boy' Roy Shaw, Bruce Reynolds, Charlie Richardson, Freddie Foreman
Dave Courtney, 'Pretty Boy' Roy Shaw, Bruce Reynolds, Charlie Richardson, Freddie Foreman

"Yes, it's bizarre, macabre, disturbing, hard-hitting and ‘in-your-face’ in places. It's also a bit titillating here and there... at times ‘tongue in cheek’... but there’s also a light hearted bit of banter in the way some of the collection is presented. I'm sure that once you have seen all that is here you will agree that it's certainly different, unique and well worth the visit ???"
Andy Jones - The Jailer

'Mad' Frankie Fraser, The Krays, Kenny Noye, Martin McGuinness & Jerry Adams
'Mad' Frankie Fraser, The Krays, Kenny Noye, Martin McGuinness & Jerry Adams

“Crime in itself is not a pleasant subject matter and hence should not be presented or portrayed in a pleasant manner either!!!” Andy Jones - The Jailer

Fred & Rose West, Harold Shipman, Myra Hindley, Ian Brady & Peter Sutcliffe
Fred & Rose West, Harold Shipman, Myra Hindley, Ian Brady & Peter Sutcliffe

LIFE OF CRIME: Bruce Reynolds

 

Quadrophenia (1978-1979)


The greatest British youth film ever made!!

Filmed in Britain in 1978 and released in 1979 Quadrophenia is still to this day highly regarded as being one of the greatest British films of all times. It still retains its own iconic magnetism and has a massive cult following worldwide.

The film when originally released was panned by critics for its large amounts of drug-fuelled, pill-popping, sex, bad language, violence, profanity and drug use throughout the film, which at the time were fairly uncommon in Film (unlike today’s Film and TV industry that seemingly appear to revel and rely upon using as much sex, violence, drug use and bad language).

Here are some famous clips and compilations from Quadrophenia......enjoy!

Quadrophenia Trailer

 


Clip from the end of Quadrophenia - although the first part of the film shot!

 


"We are the Mods" (warning contains violent scenes and strong language)

 

Quadrophenia: The Collection

31 Mar 2017

Wow!! Two of the most famous bikes on two wheels in the world…

Ace Face (Sting)… customised Vespa GS/Rally scooter.

A Quadrophenia Bike
  • This now fully restored scooter had been previously acquired by David Wyburn from Allstyles Scooters in Portsmouth. As is well known and documented within scooter clubs throughout Britain they had acquired and previously owned both Ace Face and Jimmy’s scooters following the release of the film back in 1979
  • A total of some of four customised Vespa GS/Rally scooters had been made for use in the film – built by Ron Pymm of Stirling Scooters in London. These were to be used in various scenes including of course the climatic cliff top crash at the end of the film. The two scooters used in this scene were obviously destroyed on the rocks below.
  • It is still believed that there is one other of these scooters still in existence today owned by a Jim Baxter in Scotland, though badly damaged and in poor condition. Believed to be in bits requiring welding, major repair, rebuilding and re-spraying. This partly remaining scooter has no accessories or wing mirrors at all was offered to David Wyburn at a cost of some £10k for spare parts.. This scooter had in fact been badly crashed and smashed up during filming.
  • The Ace Face scooter seen here on display is the highly prized and acclaimed one used and ridden throughout the film by both Ace Face and Jimmy, was the one stolen by Jimmy from outside the Grand Hotel, Brighton… being the workplace of Ace Face as a bell-boy for the hotel…much to Jimmy’s displeasure.

 

Jimmy’s (Phil Daniels) Lambretta Scooter

A Quadrophenia Bike
  • The scooter seen here on display has been entirely rebuilt and restored… being a 100% accurate replica of one of the two used and ridden throughout the film. This, with additional extras on her from the original scooters used … acquired from Allstyles Scooters.
  • For those of you who have seen this great British film you will no doubt recall and remember that Jimmy’s scooter was in fact crushed and written off by a Post Office van in the film. (remember Jimmy’s heartfelt plea- “You killed my scooter”)
  • The original seta from Jimmy’s scooter is also here on display.
  • Jimmy’s lambretta scooter used throughout the film was in fact hires from one of the film extras for the sum of £300 per week (a lot of money back then!!).

 

Other Quadrophenia exhibits on display include:

  • A superb array of authentic autographed photographs, film still, posters and memorabilia signed by the star cast of the film
  • Original film script, signed by it’s director Franc Roddam
  • Parkas and clothing as worn in the film.
  • Jimmy’s key ring (RAC) as used when stealing Ace Face’s scooter.
  • Rare, signed Quadrophenia albums
  • And many more items of interest.

Andy on a Quadrophenia Bike
Andy Jones (Curator & Jailer!) sitting on Sting's Vespa GS/Rally scooter used in Quadrophenia.