An oubliette is a cell entered by a trap door, once prisoners are incarcerated they are generally left to die. He pointed me towards more information he'd written on his fascinating website, which says: "There was a local rumour mentioned to me by more than one person that there was an oubliette used as part of the prison. We spoke over the phone and I mentioned the story of the oubliette. He was in the Royal Engineers for 22 years and became a diving instructor when he left.Īfter running conservation sites across the world he landed a job on Drake's Island as the gatekeeper and has picked up plenty of knowledge since. You put them in and forgot about them.Īs you'll see from pictures further down, examples of this brutal method of punishment exist around the world.īob King is the protector and gatekeeper of Drake's Island (Image: Miles O'Leary)īob King doesn't consider himself a historian, but it's arguable that nobody knows the island better than he does. It's because once a prisoner entered an oubliette, they didn't come out. Ironically I forgot to mention why the dungeon's name comes from the French word meaning to forget. Some had spikes on the bottom and all of them were gruesome. The stuff of nightmares.Īn oubliette is a tiny, vertical shaft only large enough for an individual to stand up. The horrific punishment has been compared to the Chokey, from Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Its name comes from the French verb 'oublier' meaning to forget. In an interview with an old city tour guide from our archives, an 'oubliette' is briefly mentioned as being part of the island's prison. It was used as a state prison for around 25 years from 1660. There were no more than 12 prisoners on Drake's Island and not all were held at the same time. The eerie island previously had the name of St Nicholas and has been a chapel, a fort, an observatory, a place of refuge and most importantly for this story, a prison. The first public tour of Drake's Island for 30 years will take place in the coming weeks and the lucky visitors will definitely have a better time than an unfortunate few.
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