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Tothill Fields Bridewell (also known as Tothill Fields Prison and Westminster Bridewell) was a prison located in the Westminster area of central London between 1618 and 1884. It was named 'Bridewell' after the Bridewell Palace, which during the 16th century had become one of the City of London's most important prisons. Tothill Fields later became the Westminster House of Correction. Westminster is a district within the City of Westminster in London. ...
This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
The Pass Room at Bridewell from Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808–1811), drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin. ...
The City of London is a geographically-small city within Greater London, England. ...
Like its City counterpart, the Westminster Bridewell was intended as a "house of correction" for the compulsory employment of able-bodied but indolent paupers. It was enlarged in 1655, and during the reign of Queen Anne, its regime was extended to cover the incarceration of criminals. The prison was illustrated by William Hogarth in his famous series of drawings, The Rake's Progress. Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) followed Englands only joint monarchy to become Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702 after the passing of both William and Mary. ...
William Hogarth (November 10, 1697 – October 26, 1764) was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited as a pioneer in western sequential art. ...
The Rakes Progress is an English opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. ...
In 1834 the original Bridewell was replaced by a larger prison, on a different site, eight acres in area, south of Victoria Street and close to Vauxhall Bridge Road. The new prison, designed by Robert Abraham and costing £186,000, was circular in plan (following Jeremy Bentham's 'panopticon') so that warders could supervise prisoners from a central point, and had a capacity of 900 prisoners. After it was completed, the old prison was demolished. Jeremy Bentham (IPA: or ) (February 15, 1748 O.S. (February 26, 1748 N.S.) – June 6, 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. ...
Panopticon blueprint by Jeremy Bentham, 1791 The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. ...
Originally the Bridewell comprised three separate gaols for untried male prisoners and debtors, male convicts, and women. Inmates were put to work oakum-picking and treading the treadmill, and it operated on a silent/separate system. However, due to poor management, the regime was changed in 1850 and the Bridewell then housed only women and convicted boys under the age of seventeen. Oakum is a preparation of tarred fibre used in shipbuilding, for caulking or packing joints of timbers in wood vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships. ...
What is a treadwheel? A treadwheel is a form of Animal engine powered by man. ...
The prison was closed in 1877, when prisoners were transferred to Millbank Prison, and was demolished in 1885. Westminster Cathedral now stands on the site. The prison's foundations were re-used for the cathedral. At the back of Middlesex Guildhall in Little Sanctuary is 'The Stone Gateway', positioned there by the Greater London Council in 1969. This is the only visible remnant of the prison.[1] Millbank Prison was a large prison built in Millbank, Pimlico, London. ...
Westminster Cathedral from Victoria Street The interior of Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the motherchurch of the Roman Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Westminster and the metropolitan church of the Westminster Province, located at 42 Francis Street SW1 in the City of Westminster in London, England. ...
The Middlesex Guildhall The Middlesex Guildhall is a building on the south-west corner of Parliament Square in London. ...
Arms of the Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. ...
Famous inmates
Edward Marcus Despard (1751-1803), Irish-born British colonel turned revolutionary, was born in Queens Co. ...
Poyais (also known as Principality of Poyais, Territory of Poyais, Republic of Poyais, Cazique of Poyais) was a fictional Central American country and the creation of its supposed cazique Gregor MacGregor who in the 1820s used it to entice investment and even colonization. ...
John Trumbull, 1756–1843 John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 – November 10, 1843) was a famous American artist from the time of the American Revolutionary War. ...
References - 'The city of Westminster: Introduction', Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878), pp. 1-13. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45178. Date accessed: 16 January 2007.
- Museum of London page on SW1
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