Forbury Road · Reading
Oscar Wilde's Cell
Find the prison that turned a scandal into one of literature's great poems.
- ⏱ 20 min
- 💷 £0
- 🥾 Medium
Oscar Wilde spent two years in Reading Gaol after his conviction in 1895, and walked out to write The Ballad of Reading Gaol — "each man kills the thing he loves." The prison closed for good in 2013. From outside, it still looks exactly like the kind of place you'd write your saddest poem.
What you’ll do
- 1Find the walls
- 2Find the gatehouse
- 3Prove it
Save it, send it to friends or plan your day around it. Free on the web, no download.
Photo: Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0
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