The Wood Street
Compter
A compter, sometimes referred to as a counter, was a type of small English prison controlled by a sheriff. The inmates were usually civil prisoners, for example dissenters and debtors. Examples of compters include London's Wood Street Compter, Po ...
(or Wood Street Counter) was a small prison within the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
in England. It was primarily a
debtors' prison
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histori ...
, and also held people accused of such misdemeanours as public drunkenness, although some wealthier prisoners were able to obtain alcohol through bribery. The prison was built and opened in 1555, replacing the earlier Bread Street Compter, from which many prisoners were transferred. Wood Street was closed and replaced by Giltspur Street Compter in 1791.
The Compter was originally one of two prisons, the other, the
Poultry Compter
Poultry Compter (also known as Poultry Counter) was a small prison that stood at Poultry, part of Cheapside in the City of London. The compter was used to lock up minor criminals and prisoners convicted under civil law and was run by the Ci ...
, located on the Poultry. Both were destroyed during the
Great Fire of London in 1666, although the Poultry Compter was rebuilt, and another compter,
Giltspur Street Compter was constructed in 1791.
The Wood Street Compter was still active in 1727 when ''The London Gazette'' (6 July p4) listed 13 insolvent debtors awaiting court on 25 August.
During the closure of the compters, debtors were held in prisons in
Southwark, including the
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, ...
and
King's Bench Prison
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...
s,
Borough Compter and
Horsemonger Lane Gaol
Horsemonger Lane Gaol (also known as the Surrey County Gaol or the New Gaol) was a prison close to present-day Newington Causeway in Southwark, south London. Built at the end of the 18th century, it was in use until 1878.
History
The gaol was b ...
.
Some wine cellars on Mitre Court were marketed as a party venue under the name of "The City Compter" but these appear to date from the mid 18th century; no sign of the prison was found during archaeological investigations of the site of a new office block at One Wood Street.
Notable inmates
*
Captain George Orrell
* The Catholic martyr
George Napper
George Napper (Napier) (born at Holywell manor, Oxford, 1550; executed at Oxford 9 November 1610) was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
Life
George Napper was a son of Edward Napper (d ...
* One of the
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...
ters,
Robert Catesby
Robert Catesby (c. 1572 – 8 November 1605) was the leader of a group of English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Born in Warwickshire, Catesby was educated in Oxford. His family were prominent recusant Catholics, and ...
(for his part in
Essex's rebellion
Essex's Rebellion was an unsuccessful rebellion led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in 1601 against Queen Elizabeth I of England and the court faction led by Sir Robert Cecil to gain further influence at court.
Background
Robert Devereux, ...
, 1601)
* The Sabbatarian
dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
John Traske
* The poet
Edmund Gayton
Edmund Gayton (1608–1666) was an English academic, physician and author, now considered a hack writer.
Life
The son of George Gayton of Little Britain, London, he was born there 30 November 1608. In 1623 he entered Merchant Taylors' School, a ...
* A young
Jonathan Wild
Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683 – 24 May 1725), was a London underworld figure notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled the "'' Thief-Taker General''". He simultaneously ran ...
; and
highwayman James Hind
James Hind (sometimes referred to as John Hind; baptized 1616, died 1652) was a 17th-century highwayman and Royalist rabble rouser during the English Civil War.
He came from the town of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. He fought in the English Civil ...
.
References
Further reading
*Harben, Henry Andrade. ''A Dictionary of London: Being Notes Topographical and Historical Relating to the Streets and Principle Buildings in the City of London''. London: H. Jenkins, 1918.
{{Authority control
1555 establishments in England
1666 disestablishments
Debtors' prisons
Defunct prisons in London
Demolished prisons
Former buildings and structures in the City of London