| Product: |
The Clink Prison Museum (London) |
| Date: |
04.06.06 (2346 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: some interesting torture devices
Disadvantages: overpriced, short visit, not much to see, horrible sound effects
A couple of weeks ago, my fiance's brother and wife were visiting London and we were entrusted with the task of showing them the highlights of the city, including such delights as the HMS Belfast and the Tower of London. As we crossed the Millenium Bridge and took a walk along the Thames on the Waterloo station side of the, I saw a little sign pointing towards Borough Market. Being very keen on a Brownie, we decided to wander towards the markets, choosing Clink Street as our route. It was here that my future brother-in-law spotted the infamous Clink Prison - and he was eager to take a look.
***History of the Clink Prison and museum***
The Clink Prison Museum is located on the original site of the prison built by the Bishop of Winchester between 1107 and 1144. It included both a prison for women and a prison for men. It has been said that the two prisons presented a source of income for the Bishop, as whorehouses were regulated and shut down - bringing in a lot of fines and customers.
Life in Clink Prison was apparently harsh. Not only were prisoners beaten, they were tortured brutally with various torture devices. Prisoners who were better off were able to pay the jail keepers money to obtain luxuries such as beds and bed linen and candles - as well as the luxury of less severe punishments.
From 1352 onwards, the law permitted creditors to send their debtors to jail, vastly increasing the prison population. This mechanism was primarily used to extort more money from the debtors - as they had to not only come up with the money owed and the interest charges - but also with steep jailers fees.
In 1450 rioters protested the Statutes of Labourers, raided the adjacent Winchester House, murdered clerics and released the prisoners. The rebellion did not last long - and both Winchester House and the prison were rebuilt and even extended.
In 1485, Henry VII ordered incarceration of priests for adultery, incest and fornication, again increasing the prison's population. In addition, punishments were increased severely, allowing such brutal punishments as boiling women who had murdered their husbands in oil. Women and children were not spared from extreme flogging.
During Mary I's reign, the prison was also used to incarcerate Protestants, who were starved, locked in stocks and pillories and executed if they did not die from starvation. Queen Elizabeth also used to Clink to lock up religious; however, she mainly places Catholics and Protestant Puritans in to this house of hell and corpses. When the Puritans decided to overthrow the church in 1584, Queen Elizabeth ordered that scores of Puritans should be starved to death.
When Winchester House was sold to a property developer in 1649, it became a pure debtor's prison. Punishment, such as whipping, still continued for a few decades, but as the costs to upkeep the prison became much higher, the prison was used less and less. In 1732 only two inmates remained. As the Clink suffered from severe decay, a temporary prison was built in 1745, but it was used again for the incarceration of debtors from 1976 to 1780, when it was burned down by Gordon rioters. The prison was never rebuilt.
***Our experience***
As we descended the steps into Clink Prison, I actually felt my stomach sink. I expected the experience to be very gloomy and depressing, and maybe even a little scary. My worries could not have been further from the truth.
Entering the first part of Clink Prison, visitors are greeted by a few sad-looking wax creatures, that sadly do not look as impressive and real as some of the wax figures at Madame Tussaud's. The sadness and the pain in their eyes is apparent, but it does little to convey the true atmosphere of Clink Prison. On the walls, visitors can read about the history of the museum. There are some interesting bits of information here and there - for example about the status of women in the prison. Feminists would be appalled to discover that women were actually more severely punished than men. They were often tortured to death slowly, whereas men would often be granted the death of honour - a quick and painless beheading.
Continuing the walk through the prison, the display of information and history on the walls continues, but other than that there is very little to see. The main attraction of the prison is a display of various torture devices - but apart from two of these I had seen them in various museums throughout my life time - there was little earth shattering worth seeing. Torture devices include things such as the whipping post, torture chair, thief catcher, chastity belt, thumb crusher, collar and the boot (footcrusher).
Out of the devices, I found the thief catcher, a long metal stick with a three-pronged catching device at the end, the most impressive. I could only imagine how it was used to hook a thief on the end - a great concept! The scariest device was "The Boot" - a footcrusher in which prisoners were forced to place their foot. The Boot was then filled up with water or oil and wood pieces. The prisoner's foot would swell up - and as it did so, would be crushed by the wood. The jail keepers would then heat the Boot up - so that the foot would simply fall off.
I cannot say that I learned anything more than I could have from a book by visiting the Clink Prison Museum - and in all honesty, the set-up did little to convey the real atmosphere of the place. There are tapes that tell stories of inmates, but they sound so fake that they distract from the atmosphere rather than aid imagination. The only gloomy moment was in one area, where visitors are shown a table and a raised bed - and are told that prisoners often had to eat mice and rats to survive. But this was hardly anything groundbreaking or exciting.
What wound me up the most is the fact that the museum has invited some rather embarrassing "activities" to make up for the fact that there is really nothing to see. At various stages, visitors are invited to place themselves into the place of a prisoner, by imagining their thumbs being crushed or by guessing how many hours a prisoner would have to stay in a certain torture device.
There is a little gift shop at the end of the tour, selling the usual key rings and pencils, but the staff member who is employed to work in the shop was hiding in the back and as such it was not very inviting to even consider buying anything.
As we left the prison through the back door, I became acutely aware that the most informative and gloomy parts of the prison are the doors and the outside of the building.
***Our verdict***
We were all bitterly disappointed with our visit. The attraction is simply overpriced, considering that for £5, you would get no more than 30 minutes of history and very little to look at. The Clink Prison Museum does little to convey what misery the inmates went through and much to make visitors believe that this is simply a tourist trap. A reasonable price for this attraction would have been £1.50, not a penny more!
It is unclear to me who this attraction would actually appeal to, as it certainly has little to offer for children and certainly does not make for a family day out. It might appeal to history buffs or those who have a keen interest in ancient torture devices, but these devices could certainly be seen in other museums which have more to offer.
***Further information***
*Admission prices*
Adult £5
Children (under16) £3.50
Senior Citizens (over 60) £3.50
Student (need I.D.) £3.50
Family £12.00
(2 adults, 2 children)
*Opening times*
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm,
Sat & Sun, 10am-9pm
*Directions*
1 Clink Street, London SE1 9DG
Nearest tube/ train station: London Bridge
For map visit:
www.clink.co.uk
Summary: A good history book would be less of a waste of time and money.
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