Words with Wagtails

In 1795, newspaper editor and radical poet James Montgomery was arrested for publishing a poem.

Condemned to a sentence in York Castle Prison Montgomery found himself surrounded not by dangerous criminals, but radical thinkers, philosophical freedom-fighters and kindred spirits.

Upon his release he published a volume of poetry written in confinement. Now, over 200 years later, we are revisiting this little known collection to find out what this 18th-century experience can teach us about today.