Wood Street Compter
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The Wood Street
Compter A compter, sometimes referred to as a counter, was a type of small England, English prison controlled by a sheriff. The inmates were usually civil prisoners, for example dissenters and debtors. Examples of compters include London's Wood Street Comp ...
(or Wood Street Counter) was a small prison within the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
in England. It was primarily a
debtors' prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histor ...
, and also held people accused of such misdemeanours as public drunkenness, although some wealthier prisoners were able to obtain alcohol through bribery. The prison was built and opened in 1555, replacing the earlier Bread Street Compter, from which many prisoners were transferred. Wood Street was closed and replaced by
Giltspur Street Compter The Giltspur Street Compter was a compter or small prison, designed by English architect and surveyor George Dance the Younger, mainly used to hold debtors. It was in Giltspur Street, Smithfield, close to Newgate, in the City of London, betw ...
in 1791. The Compter was originally one of two prisons, the other, the
Poultry Compter Poultry Compter (also known as Poultry Counter) was a small prison that stood at Poultry, part of Cheapside in the City of London. The compter was used to lock up minor criminals and prisoners convicted under civil law and was run by one of the ...
, located on the Poultry. Both were destroyed during the
Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...
in 1666, although the Poultry Compter was rebuilt, and Giltspur Street Compter was constructed in 1791. The Wood Street Compter was still active in 1727 when ''The London Gazette'' (6 July p4) listed 13 insolvent debtors awaiting court on 25 August. During the closure of the compters, debtors were held in prisons in
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
, including the
Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, ...
and
King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from the Middle Ages until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were he ...
s,
Borough Compter The Borough Compter was a small compter or prison initially located in Southwark High Street but moved to nearby Tooley Street in 1717, where it stood until demolished until 1855. It took its name from 'The Borough', a historic name for the Southw ...
and
Horsemonger Lane Gaol Horsemonger Lane Gaol (also known as the Surrey County Gaol or the New Gaol) was a prison close to present-day Newington Causeway in Southwark, south London. Built at the end of the 18th century, it was in use until 1878. History The gaol was ...
. Some wine cellars on Mitre Court were marketed as a party venue under the name of "The City Compter" but these appear to date from the mid 18th century; no sign of the prison was found during archaeological investigations of the site of a new office block at One Wood Street.


Notable inmates

* Captain George Orrell * The Catholic martyr
George Napper George Napper (or Napier; c. 1550 – 9 November 1610) was an English Catholic priest murdered during the Reformation. He is recognized as a Catholic martyr, having been beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI. Life George Napper was a son of Edward ...
* One of the
Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against James VI and I, King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English ...
ters,
Robert Catesby Robert Catesby ( – 8 November 1605) was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated at Oxford University. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, a ...
(for his part in
Essex's rebellion Essex's Rebellion was an unsuccessful rebellion led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in February 1601 against Queen Elizabeth I of England and the court faction led by Sir Robert Cecil to gain further influence at court. Background Robert ...
, 1601) * The Sabbatarian
dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...
John Traske English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestants who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. English Dissenters opposed state interference in religious matters and founded their own churches, educational i ...
* The poet
Edmund Gayton Edmund Gayton (1608–1666) was an English academic, physician and writer, now considered a hack writer. Life The son of George Gayton of Little Britain, London, he was born there 30 November 1608. In 1623 he entered Merchant Taylors' School, Nor ...
* The writer Richard Vennar * A young
Jonathan Wild Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683 – 24 May 1725), was an English thief-taker and a major figure in London's criminal underworld, notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled th ...
; and
highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...
James Hind James Hind (sometimes referred to as John Hind; baptized 1616, died 1652) was a 17th-century highwayman and Royalist rabble-rouser during the English Civil War. He came from the town of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. He fought in the English Civi ...
.


References


Further reading

*Harben, Henry Andrade. ''A Dictionary of London: Being Notes Topographical and Historical Relating to the Streets and Principle Buildings in the City of London''. London: H. Jenkins, 1918. {{Authority control 1555 establishments in England 1666 disestablishments Debtors' prisons Defunct prisons in London Demolished prisons Former buildings and structures in the City of London