The Clink Prison Museum

The Clink Prison Museum is an attempt to reconstruct the historical interiors of The Clink prison operating from the 12th to 18th centuries. Visitors can not only see the cells and instruments of torture that prisoners were subjected to, but also personally try them out. The Clink was the first prison in which women, mainly prostitutes, were detained. Usually convicts for debts, but also infidels came here.

The Clink prisoners were many famous personalities, including English religious reformer, John Bradford and Anglican bishop, John Hooper. Both, after being accused of heresy, were imprisoned and then burned at the stake in 1555. Thomas Wyatt, the leader of the 1554 rebellion was also imprisoned here, whose aim was to overthrow Maria I Tudor, called Bloody Mary.

Badly paid prison guards allowed prostitutes at The Clink to practice their profession. They also benefited from rich prisoners who paid off in exchange for the opportunity to obtain a larger cell, to provide food and clothes.