A POET has been awarded a research grant as she attempts to tell the story of Holloway Prison through dramatic poetry.

Natalie Scott, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, is being financial supported for the ‘Rare Birds – Voices of Holloway Prison’ project by the Arts Council of England.

Ms Scott will aim to use a variety of methods to recount the prison's beginnings and developments from 1852 to 1955, including the voices of prisoners and staff.

She said: "Many notorious prisoners who are yet to tell their sinister tales will have their stories portrayed using dramatic monologues, as well as actual documented material to provide a new insight into the history of Holloway."

The prison, which closed last year, is a place of interest for many, due in no small part to the role it has played in women’s history.

During its time, several members of the Suffragettes including Emily Wilding Davies were imprisoned there, and it was one of the prisons which introduced forcible feeding at the height of the movement in the early 20th Century.