and drink were charged at twice the outside price. They accepted payments for fitting lighter irons and for removing them completely. For a fee, prisoners would be allowed outside to beg or even to work. Madams were allowed to keep a brothel going, with payments going to the gaolers. Poorer prisoners had to beg at the grates that led up to street level and sell anything they had with them, including their clothes, to pay for food. Winchester House was raided by rioters protesting the Statute of Labourers in 1450. Classing clerics as tax collectors, they murdered them and released prisoners from the Clink before burning it down. The rebellion was put down and Winchester House was rebuilt and extended, including a new prison. Originally, most of the prisoners had been those who had broken the rules of the Liberty, but by the 16th century, it had become largely a prison for actual or supposed heretics who held contrary views to the bishops. The Marian martyrs John Bradford and John Hooper were amongst the inmates. In later years it was mainly a debtors' prison. Decline In 1649 Winchester House was sold to a property developer and was divided into shops, tenements and dye houses. The Cage was removed temporarily as taxpayers had complained about the cost of upkeep, but the whipping post was still busy. By 1707 both of these and the stocks were all unused because of the cost of upkeep, and by 1732 there were only two registered inmates. In 1745 a temporary prison was used, as the Clink was too decayed to use, but by 1776 the prison was again taking in debtors. It was burnt down in 1780 by Gordon rioters, and was never rebuilt. Today The Clink Prison Museum exhibition is located on Clink Street, near to the original site, at Bankside, Southwark. The Clink Prison Museum tries to recreate the conditions of the original prison. Notable prisoners English Catholics William Alabaster ~ 1597, poet and playwright. Father John Gerard, S.J. ~1594-1597 Father John Jones OFM ~1596–1598. Father George Blackwell ~1607–1613 Matthew Wilson, alias Edward Knott, Jesuit author. 1629–1633 English Protestants John Lothropp Anne Askew See also List of prisons in the United Kingdom The Clink (restaurant) References Further reading External links John Wilkes & The Kings Bench Prison - UK Parliament Living Heritage Prison museums in the United Kingdom Former buildings and structures in