The Clink

The prison served the Liberty of the Clink, a local manor area owned by the Bishop of Winchester rather than by the reigning monarch.

[3] There had been a prison owned by the Bishop of Winchester in one form or another since the year 860, although at that time it would only have been one cell in a priests' college.

By 1076 an archbishop had several types of punishment allowed: scourging with rods; solitary confinement; and bread and water in silence.

[4] The Bishop of Winchester, whose diocese was located in Hampshire on the southern coast of England, ordered the construction of the Winchester Palace chapel and mansion at the Southwark site to serve as a residence close to his London governmental duties,[5] sometime after the acquisition of the manor territory between 1144 and 1149.

The higher status of some of its internees was solely due to the importance of the Bishop of Winchester as a senior member of the king's government, usually as Lord Chancellor, who could also put to trial in his ecclesiastic court those accused of heresy and other religious offences.

[7] Poorer prisoners had to beg at the grates that led up to street level and sell anything they had with them, including their clothes, to pay for food.

The Cage was removed temporarily as taxpayers had complained about the cost of upkeep, but the whipping post was still busy.