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If you have ever wondered where the expression “in the clink” came from, wonder no more. Apparently there was an actual prison in England called Clink Prison. It was situated beneath the palace of the Bishops of Winchester, beside Southwark Cathedral at London Bridge, just across the Thames from the City Of London. In the early 1600s, Protestant followers of Robert Browne, the religious leader, were imprisoned “in the Clink”. Many of these “separatists” were to join the “Mayflower” and similar expeditions which sailed to the New World in an attempt to gain religious freedom.
Three hundred and fifty years or so later, in the early 1980s, much of the dockland area of London was rebuilt, with warehouses turned into shopping centres, cafes and restaurants as well as town houses and apartments. This complete renovation of the Port of London is well worth seeing. Winchester Palace itself was renovated and when some old buildings were demolished a whole wall was revealed on the western side of the Palace, complete with a great rose window and three lances.
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The Clink Prison Museum is
on the site of the original
Clink Prison.
The "Clink" burned down in
the Gordon Riots of 1780. |
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Talking of prisons, according to the magazine Scottish Memories, archaeologists who excavated the basement of Carrick Castle on the shore of Loch Goil in Argyll, Scotland, uncovered a grim find – the remains of a medieval pit prison. The small vaulted chamber was found beneath the original floor level of a room at the north end of the tower. The only access was through a vertical stone shaft against one wall, which meant that those unfortunate enough to be held there, must have been dropped down and then probably sealed in by closing the trap-door.
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The castle was built in 1370 and is located on a rock outcrop which projects into the loch surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery.
© David Mullhallen
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