See inside Northallerton's 18th-century abandoned prison

Our photographer visited the site ahead of the arrival of a Lidl store and other retail units on the land. Five of the complex's listed buildings will be retained. Northallerton Prison opened in 1788 and a women's wing was added in 1818. The governor's house and two more wings were built in the 1820s and 1850s. During this period the jail housed the world's largest treadmill for the punishment of inmates, who were set to work on it to grind corn. It closed in 1922 and was transferred to the army for use as a military prison. It later became a young offenders' institute, and ended its operational life as a category C/D men's prison before its closure in 2013. The site is going to be part of a new leisure, retail and residential development called, aptly enough, Treadmills, with the Lidl supermarket and an Everyman boutique cinema as anchor tenants The historic buildings, which include the governor's house, will be converted and brought back into use.