The Layton Collection

THE THOMAS LAYTON TRUST & LAYTON'S COLLECTION

Design for Newgate prison

Design for building a commodious prison for debtors and felons at Newgate, by George Dance
Parliament granted £50,000 towards the cost of rebuilding Newgate Prison and a new court house on a large plot of land provided by the City of London. Work began in 1770 but when the new prison was nearly finished it was stormed by a mob and gutted by fire during the Gordon riots in 1780. Rebuilding was completed in 1782. The building was laid out around a central courtyard, and was divided into two parts, with a Common Area for poor prisoners and a State Area for those who could pay for more comfortable accommodation.

The Collection

Thomas Layton collected books, coins, and archaeological items (usually described as ‘antiquities’) for 70 years. In that time he had accumulated what has been described as “probably the largest collection of London antiquities ever amassed by a single individual”.

The vast majority of items are believed to have been bought at auctions. Some came to him from his men working on the river. His businesses provided opportunities for finds from dredging, building of bridges and embankments along the banks of the Thames, for which Layton paid good money. Even by the standards of the day Layton kept poor records of where items were found. Despite this, the collection is considered highly important particularly to archaeologists and pre-historians.