Clink Prison Museum

This one-time private jail in the park of Winchester Palace, a 32-hectare area known as the Liberty of the Clink and under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Winchester and not the City, was used to detain debtors, prostitutes, thieves and even actors. This was the notorious address that gave us the expression ‘in the clink’ (in jail). The poky little museum inside, which was getting a much needed refit at the time of research, reveals the wretched life of the prisoners who were forced to pay for their own food and accommodation and sometimes had to resort to catching and eating mice. There’s a nice little collection of instruments of torture, too.