Little Ease was a prison cell located beneath the White Tower in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

. The lightless cell was designed on a side, meaning that while an adult human could be placed inside, any occupant was prevented from being able to either stand, sit, or lie down, meaning it was impossible for him to find any physical position of rest (i.e., "little ease" could be found). Evidence suggests that Edmund Campion, a Catholic priest in Elizabethan England, was imprisoned for four days in the cell in July 1581.Simpson, Richard. Edmund Campion: a Biography, (1867), p.239. According to Bell (1921), by tradition, Guy Fawkes was housed there in 1605. Another possible inmate was

Miles Prance Miles Prance (''fl.'' 1678) was an English Roman Catholic craftsman who was caught up in and perjured himself during the Popish Plot and the resulting anti-Catholic hysteria in London during the reign of Charles II. Life Prance was born on the ...

in 1678. But Bell also stated that there is some doubt that the cell ever actually housed prisoners.

References

Tower of London {{London-struct-stub