Gatehouse Prison was a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

, built in 1370 as the gatehouse of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. It was first used as a prison by the Abbot, a powerful churchman who held considerable power over the precincts and sanctuary. It was one of the prisons which supplied the Old Bailey with information on former prisoners (such as their identity or prior criminal records) for making indictments against criminals While he was imprisoned in the Gatehouse for petitioning to have the Clergy Act 1640 annulled, Richard Lovelace wrote "

To Althea, from Prison "To Althea, from Prison" is a poem written by Richard Lovelace in 1642. The poem is one of Lovelace's best-known works, and its final stanza's first line "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage" is often quoted. Lovelace wrote the ...

", with its famous line

"''Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage''"

The Gatehouse prison was demolished in 1776. On its site, in front of the Abbey's Great West Door, is the Westminster scholars'

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...

Memorial.

Notable inmates

Giles Wigginton Giles Wigginton (''Floruit, fl.'' 1564 – 1597) was an English clergyman who became a fringe religious activist towards the end of the sixteenth century. Life Wigginton was born at Oundle in Northamptonshire and was educated at the Oundle Sch ...

, Puritan cleric and controversialist, was imprisoned for 2 months around 1584, for refusing to take an oath. Sir

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

was held here the night before he was beheaded in Old Palace Yard, Westminster on 29 October 1618. The Gatehouse prison held many famous dissenters and people charged with treasonous crimes, including Thomas Bates, Christopher Holywood, Richard Lovelace, Samuel Pepys, John Southworth, Sir Thomas Ragland,

Henry Savile Henry Savile may refer to: *Henry Savile (died 1558) (1498–1558), MP for Yorkshire *Henry Savile (died 1569) (1518–1569), MP for Yorkshire and Grantham *Henry Savile (Bible translator) (1549–1622), English scholar and Member of the Parliament ...

and Laurence Vaux.

Notable inmates

References

Further reading