Subject

Established in medieval times as a place to hold prisoners of the King's Bench court, primarily debtors. It was originally sited in Angel Place, off Borough High Street, just north of what is now John Harvard Library. In 1754-8 this was demolished and replaced with a new building erected to the south-west on what was then St George's Fields and is now Scovell housing estate. In 1842 it became the Queen's Prison and took debtors from the Marshalsea and Fleet Prisons. It became the Southwark Convict Prison and then closed.