Richard Ingleman (1777–1838) was a surveyor and architect of
Southwell in Nottinghamshire, England. Initially his architectural practice was based on the Southwell area, but he won widespread respect for his designs for the Southwell House of Correction (1807–8). This led to his gaining major commissions for prisons and mental hospitals, particularly in Wiltshire and at Oxford.
Life and career
Richard Ingleman was the son of Francis Ingleman, a surveyor and builder of Southwell, and the grandson of Richard Ingleman, a mason who repaired
Southwell Minster
Southwell Minster () is a minster and cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated miles from Newark-on-Trent and from Mansfield. It is the seat of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Diocese of Southwell and N ...
after a lightning strike in 1711.
Richard Ingleman is first noted as a Surveyor to the fabric of Southwell Minster, a position he held from 1801 to 1808. In 1807 he designed the Southwell House of Correction, a prison which was seen as a model for other prisons. This operated the ''silent system'' which required the prisoners to work in groups and to remain silent at all times. This was to give him an interest in prison and institutional design. He entered unsuccessfully the competition in 1812 for the design of the
Milbank Penitentiary which was to be built on the present site of the
Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
. He was successful in two other large prison projects: the rebuilding of
Devizes New Bridewell and the
Fisherton Anger
Fisherton is a small coastal hamlet, overlooking the Moray Firth, and situated 3 miles northeast of Inverness in Inverness-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high ele ...
House of Correction in Salisbury.
The Devizes New Bridewell was started in 1810, and at the same time Ingleman started supervising the building of the Nottingham Lunatic Asylum. It was not until 1817 that he started on the Fisherton Anger House of Correction, but by this time he had been approached to design the
Warneford Mental Hospital at Oxford, which was built between 1821 and 1826.
In 1826, Ingleman wrote to the Trustees of the Warneford Hospital saying that he was now incapacitated by illness and asked for the final payment of £50 for the completion of the hospital. He does not appear to have undertaken any further architectural work after this date and he died at Southwell in 1838, at the age of 51.
Howard Colvin
Sir Howard Montagu Colvin (15 October 1919 – 27 December 2007) was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field: ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 ...
notes that Ingleman's asylums were classical buildings of no special distinction, but the unexecuted plans he submitted for the re-building of
Shelton Shelton may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
* Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire
* Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
* Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...
Church, Nottinghamshire, were an essay in
Early English style which were quite creditable for the time. He undertook some country house building and favoured the use of
Ionic columns
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...
for porches and porticos, as seen at
Conock House near Devizes (1817) and at
Ordsall Rectory (now Ordsall Hall) in Nottinghamshire. He also used massive Ionic columns for the
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many c ...
to the Lawn Asylum in Lincoln.
Architectural work

*Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire. Repairs to the fabric, 1801–5, including the removal of the two pyramid-shaped spires from the two western towers.
*The Assembly Rooms, Southwell, Nottinghamshire. These adjoin the Saracen’s Head.
*The Residence House, Southwell, alterations and improvements, 1806–9.
*The House of Correction, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, 1807. Extended in 1817.

*Southwell Parish Workhouse, 1808. A parish workhouse for 84 inmates in Moor Lane, Southwell. It was designed by the
Revd John T Becher in association with a local architect, believed to be Ingleman. Becher published the plan of the workhouse in 1828 in his book ''The Anti-pauper System''. When the
Thurgaton Wapentake or Union workhouse was built in 1824 the building was no longer needed and it was converted into a Baptist Chapel.
*
Devizes House of Correction, Wiltshire, 1810–17. The prison was a polygon of brick and stone with the governor's building in the middle. There were 210 cells, 16 yards, 2 infirmaries and a chapel.
*Nottingham, The Lunatic Asylum, 1810–12.
*Conock House, nr. Devizes, Wiltshire. Added Ionic porch and wings for E. Warriner in 1817.
*Ordsall Rectory (now Ordsall Hall), Nottinghamshire 1819. According to Pevsner: "A two storey
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
house of excellent proportions".
*Fisherton Anger Prison, Salisbury, 1817. This was the Wiltshire County Prison and plans survive in the Wiltshire County Record Office. The plans are No. 1. ground plan; no. 2. chamber plan; no. 3. attic plan; no. 4. elevation of the lodge: no. 5. elevation of the end of the Infirmary Wards, communication passages and central building. Only the central block survives today, as New Radnor House.
*The Woodborough Prebend, Southwell, c. 1818. New frontage added to an earlier house.
*The Lawns, Mental Hospital, Lincoln, 1819–20.
*The Grammar School, Southwell, 1820. Erected on the site of the Chantry Priests' house; remained in use until 1964.
*Rydd Court, Worcestershire.
*The
Warneford Mental Hospital, Oxford, 1821–6.
["Colvin" (1995), 526] Originally known as the Oxford Lunatic Asylum, it later became known as The Radcliffe Asylum, and after 1843, as the Warneford Lunatic Asylum. It was intended for three classes of non-pauper patients who would pay for their care according to their financial circumstances.
Gallery of work by Richard Ingleman
References
Literature
*
*
*Morrison K. (1999), ''The Workhouse: A Study of Poor -Law Buildings in England'', English Heritage/RCHME,
*Parry-Jones B. (1976), ''The Warneford Hospital, Oxford.''
*
*Smith R. (2015) ''Nottinghamshire House of Correction, Southwell (1611-1880): A Model Institution: Essential History and Architectural Notes'', Southwell and District Local History Society.
*Summers N., ''A Prospect of Southwell''.
External links
Rev J.T.Becher Heritage Trail– leaflet by Southwell Tourism Partnership
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingleman, Richard
Architects from Nottinghamshire
1777 births
1838 deaths
19th-century English people
People from Southwell, Nottinghamshire