Gatehouse Prison was aprison inWestminster, built in 1370 as the gatehouse ofWestminster Abbey. It was first used as a prison by the Abbot, a powerful churchman who held considerable power over the precincts and sanctuary. It was one of the prisons which supplied theOld Bailey with information on former prisoners (such as their identity or prior criminal records) for making indictments against criminals.[1]
While he was imprisoned in the Gatehouse for petitioning to have theClergy Act 1640 annulled,Richard Lovelace wrote "To Althea, from Prison", with its famous lines
Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
The Gatehouse prison was demolished in 1776. On its site, in front of the Abbey's Great West Door, is the Westminster scholars'Crimean War Memorial.
51°29′57″N0°07′44″W / 51.4992°N 0.1290°W /51.4992; -0.1290
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