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Former prison, built 1886 - 1888 to house convict labour to build the breakwaters for Peterhead's Harbour of Refuge. An Act of Parliament, 'The Peterhead Harbour of Refuge Act', was passed in 1886 authorising the Prison Commissioners for Scotland to build the prison, which was opened on the 8th of August 1888. The prison supplied labour to work in Stringhill Quarry and the Admiralty Yard attached to the prison. Imprisonment with hard labour was abolished in the Criminal Justice Act of 1949 with the harbour still unfinished (it was only completed in 1958) and prisoners were subsequently employed in industrial work sheds within the prison grounds. In 1959, part of the Admiralty Yard and some buildings were taken over by the prison. The prison closed in 2014. Prior to demolition, a building survey in the form of archive assessment was carried out by Northlight Heritage in 2014. The core of the prison was on the north of the site, comprising an area of circa 6 acres on which there were at least 14 buildings. Initially, the prison at the north end of the site comprised a perimeter wall, three halls (A, D, B), infirmary, reception, bathhouse, kitchen, laundry, barracks, recreational hall and chapel. By 1910, in response to higher prisoner numbers, an additional hall (C) had been built and the infirmary extended. Halls A and D formed a single long structure, originally designed as a single hall, and is of four storeys with a basement and attic area. Drawings of 1897 show a pitched roof with crown mouldings and 10 rectangular ventilation stacks, and the west elevation with 160 cell windows. Internally, hall A was organised around a central hall flanked by galleries. Originally the cells would have been between 3 by 2.3 m and 1.5 by 2.3 m, each with a single window. Hall B and its annexe was three-storey with an attic, with projecting horizontal coursings at floor levels in the same style as A. Drawings from 1898 show the west elevation of B hall with 57 cell windows, and the northern annexe with 27 cell windows. The interior was arranged around a hall. The main hall was designed to comprise 114 single cells and 16 washrooms, the cells all 2.3 m long but varying in width between 1.4 and 1.7 m. The annexe was designed to comprise 54 cells. Hall C was designed in 1911, and was a three storey building 33.6 m long. The northern gable had a large semi-circular arched window. Internally the design was similar to the other halls, with 29 cells per floor. A further block, E, appears to have been built some time between 1886 and 1914. The kitchen block formed part of the original design. The hospital building was also an original feature of the prison: two extensions (including a plant room) were added in 1910, with further later additions. In the southern part of the site were railway sidings and long workshops, as depicted on the OS 2nd edition map (see also NK14SW0095). The 2nd edition map also shows the start of the south breakwater. Photographic survey of the buildings in this southern area of the site was carried out in 2012, prior to their demolition in 2012 for construction of a new prison, HMP and YOI Grampian, which opened in 2014. The former prison now operates as a visitor attraction.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)