A prison was originally opened at Stapleton in 1779 for Spanish and Dutch naval prisoners taken during the American War of Independence.

Large numbers of prisoners were brought to Bristol but its existing prisons were inadequate and thought too close to the town for its health and security. The solution was to build a prison at Stapleton, which was used until its inmates were returned home in 1783.

Ten years later it reopened to house prisoners of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and became known as the 'French' prison. It later became a workhouse, an asylum and eventually part of Blackberry Hill Hospital.