Early history: Cold Bath Fields Prison

The site of Mount Pleasant is on rising ground about half a mile north of the boundary of the City of London (the 'Square Mile'). Until the 17th century this area was open fields sloping down to the Fleet River, and this is presumably why the area became known as 'Mount Pleasant'. By the 1700s, however, this name carried a satirical twist, as a huge rubbish heap had grown on the site.

The area had a second name: 'Coldbath Fields', in honour of Cold Bath Spring which had been discovered in 1697. This bathing place was renowned for the coldness and supposed medicinal qualities of its waters, and was one of many springs - or 'wells' – in and around Clerkenwell. This must have been an odd 'health spa' next to the refuse heap!

In 1794 the rubbish heap was cleared and the Middlesex House of Correction (Clerkenwell Gaol) was built on the site. The penitentiary became known as Coldbath Fields Prison.

The prison cost £66,000 to construct (around £4.5 million today). However, following an outbreak of cholera, it was found that the brickwork had been poorly set, fallen in, and almost entirely blocked the building’s sewers.

The first governor of the prison was famed for the beatings he administered with a knotted rope and was eventually dismissed following a Government inquiry into the abuses. No wonder Southey and Coleridge wrote in The Devils Thoughts…

As he went through Coldbath Fields he saw
A Solitary cell;
And the Devil was pleased, for it gave him a hint
For improving his prisons in Hell.

As well as adopting the 'silent system' in the early 19th century (to force inward contemplation of crimes), Coldbath Fields Prison forced its inmates to man a treadmill to grind grain and pump water. Picking oakum - pulling apart old tarry ropes to re-use in shipbuilding - was another example of hard labour. The prison housed 232 prisoners when it was opened, 1,317 inmates in 1855, and in excess of 1,500 when it finally closed in 1877.