Coldbath Fields Prison

Not to be confused with Clerkenwell Prison otherwise known as the Clerkenwell House of Detention.

Coldbath Fields Prison

Birds eye view of Coldbath Fields.
Location	Clerkenwell, London
Coordinates	51°31′31″N 0°06′46″W / 51.52528°N 0.11278°W / 51.52528; -0.11278Coordinates: 51°31′31″N 0°06′46″W / 51.52528°N 0.11278°W / 51.52528; -0.11278
Status	Closed
Capacity	2000
Population	1700 (as of 1877)
Opened	1794
Closed	1885
Notable prisoners
Edward Marcus Despard, William Thomas Stead, Owen Suffolk

Plan of the prison.

Vagrants exercising and on the treadmill.

Prisoners picking oakum.

Coldbath Fields Prison (also known as the Middlesex House of Correction and Clerkenwell Gaol) was a prison in the Mount Pleasant area of Clerkenwell, London. Founded during the reign of James I (1603–1625), the prison was completely rebuilt in 1794 and extended in 1850.^[1] It was used to house prisoners on short sentences of up to two years. There were separate blocks for felons, misdemeanants and vagrants.

History

Coldbath Fields Prison was originally the Middlesex House of Correction: a prison run by local magistrates and where most prisoners served short sentences. Coldbath Fields also served as a debtor's prison. It took its later name from Cold Bath Spring, a medicinal spring discovered in 1697.^[2] The prison housed men, women and children until 1850, when the women and children moved to Tothill Fields Bridewell in Victoria and Coldbath was restricted to adult male offenders over the age of 17. Despite its aspirations to be a more humanitarian prison (it was designed by John Howard), it became notorious for its strict regime of silence and its use of the treadmill.

During the early 19th century, the prison temporarily housed members of the Cato Street Conspiracy. In March 1877 a fire started in the bakehouse which destroyed the treadmill house; no prisoners were hurt but two firemen were injured.^[3]

The prison closed in 1885. The site was transferred to the Post Office in 1889 and its buildings were gradually replaced. The last sections were demolished in 1929 for an extension of the Letter Office. Today, the site is occupied by the Mount Pleasant sorting office.

Famous inmates

• Robert Wedderburn, ultra-radical leader and anti-slavery advocate
• Edward Despard, Colonel and Superintendent of British Honduras, imprisoned for revolutionary activity

Notes and references

1. ^ Philip Collins Dickens and crime Ch.III "The Silent System Coldbath Fields Prison"
2. ^ "Early history: Cold Bath Fields Prison". The British Postal Museum & Archive. 2007. http://postalheritage.org.uk/exhibitions/onlineexhibitions/mountpleasant?slide=2. 
3. ^ "CLERKENWELL HOUSE OF CORRECTION", The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times (London) (816): 204, 31 March 1877, http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs  Has some useful background information. The images have not come out brilliantly on the British Library site but can be found in higher quality on pay sites.

Further reading

• Mayhew, Henry; Binny, John (1862), The criminal prisons of London, and scenes of prison life Volume 3 of The great metropolis, Griffin, Bohn & Co, pp. 277–352, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TGAJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA277  Comprehensive account of the prison in 1862