The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

Dickens’s own father spent time in the Marshalsea, which was finally closed in 1842.

The Marshalsea, in Southwark, was made famous by Charles Dickens in his 1855 novel Little Dorrit. Read more about: Medieval History History's most bizarre, brutal and absolutely barmy punishments Stuart poet Richard Lovelace penned his famous poem, To Althea, from Prison while doing bird in the Gatehouse. The Crimean War Memorial now stands on the site of the ancient cooler.įamous former captive guests of the Gatehouse include Gunpowder Plot conspirator Thomas Bates, Sir Walter Raleigh, held here the night before his execution in 1618, and Samuel Pepys, detained here for a time in 16 on suspicion of being a Jacobite.

The Gatehouse stood next to Westminster Abbey for four centuries until it was demolished in 1776. This small slammer was initially the prison of the powerful Abbot of Westminster, but from the 16th century onwards it began to receive all manner of yardbirds. The Gatehouse Prison was built in 1370, during the reign of King Edward III. Here we will look at seven penitentiaries of London’s past, in the order that they ceased to function as prisons. In 1800 there were 19 prisons in London, and out of these, only the Tower of London is still standing today.

Dickens wrote about them in his novels and even tourists from abroad wanted to visit them. They were part of the fabric of London life. Today, the only prison anywhere near Central London is Pentonville, three miles from Charing Cross, but for hundreds of years the capital’s grim gaols loomed large over Londoners in the heart of the city.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George