Step down below ground and into ‘The Clink’, where prisoners guilty of all sorts of crimes (and even not at all) have found themselves locked up over the years, going back to a time when things were far more barbaric than today. Inside The Clink Prison Museum, on the very site of the old Mediaeval prison that was run for nearly 600 years, you will see how the prisoners were kept, how they were treated, and how they were tortured…
Nearly 900 years ago, way back in 1129, Henry of Blois (who was the brother of King Stephen and the grandson of William the Conqueror) became the Bishop of Winchester, with a grand Thames-side residence built for him. Inside the palace there were two prisons - one for men and one for women, as everyone in Bankside was subject to the laws of ‘The Liberty (or jurisdiction) of the Bishop of Westminster’ (later the ‘Liberty of the Clink’). It‘s thought that the name ‘Clink’ comes from the sound of a blacksmith’s metal closing iron cuffs around the wrists of each prisoner unfortunate enough to find themselves here.
Over the years ‘The Clink’ was home to all manner of prisoners, guilty of all manner of crimes. There were your average drunk and disorderly, there were Catholics when England was Protestant, and Protestants when England was Catholic, and then there were some of England‘s most famous rebels; Sir Thomas Wyatt famously rebelled against Queen ‘Bloody’ Mary I, who also threw John Rogers into The Clink for the crime of translating The Bible into English! The Clink also has a strong connection to America, and will be of interest to our American friends; many of the first passengers on The Mayflower were Puritans who had been jailed for their religious beliefs, and who went on to start a new life across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Clink Prison Museum is dedicated to exploring the history and the conditions of life inside the famous prison (which, thankfully, doesn’t still jail people today!). It’s as educational and enlightening as it is entertaining as visitors discover the gruesome histories and fascinating secrets behind the dark side of the city…
Visitors can opt for a Guided Tour for £8 per person, or a Self-Guided Tour for £4.50 per person, and those with stomachs of steel may want to brace themselves for a Ghost Hunt…
Details
- Address:
- 1 Clink Street
- SE1 9DG
- Transport:
- London Bridge station