Bridewell Palace

In the civil parish of City Of London. In the historic county of London, City of (Modern Authority of London, City of, 1974 county of Greater London).

Bridewell Palace was a royal palace built in 1515-2- for Henry VIII on the banks of the Fleet River. It was named after a holy well nearby dedicated to St Bride. The building was a large rambling brick structure round three courtyards. In 1553 Edward VI gave the palace to the City for the reception of vagrants and homeless children and for the punishment of petty offenders and disorderly women. Queen Mary Tudor confirmed Edward VI's charter in 1556 and the City took possession, turning the palace into a prison, hospital and workrooms. Most of the buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt in 1666-7. A new prison section was built in 1797. The prison was closed in 1855 and the buildings were demolished in 1863-4 . The site was first covered by De Keyser's Royal Hotel and since 1931 has been occupied by the Unilever Building. (PastScape)
May have been the site of an earlier royal building called 'Tower or Castle on the west of London by Sainte Brides church.; vita Arkenwald' by Stow (qv)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ31618101

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 404993
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Web site links
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridewell_Palace
• Books
  • Keevill, Graham D., 2000, Medieval Palaces, An Archaeology (Stroud; Tempus) p14, 64-6, 70, 77, 116, 156
    Schofield, J., 1994, Medieval London House (Yale University Press) p41-2, 51, 61, 84, 151
    Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p40-44
    James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby) p156
    Weinreb, Ben and Hibbert, Christopher (eds), 1983 [rev edn 1993], The London Encyclopeadia (Macmillian) p89-90
    Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works, vol4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p53-8
    Gadd, D. and Dyson, T., 1981, 'Bridewell Palace: Excavations at 9-11 Bridewell Place and 1-3 Tudor Street, City of London, 1978' Post-medieval Archaeology Vol15 p1-79
    RCHME, 1929, Inventory of Historic Monuments in London Vol4: London (The City) (HMSO) p160
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Stype, John, 1720, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster Vol1 bk1 p63 http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/strype/TransformServlet?page=book1_063
    Kingsford, C.L. (ed), 1908, A Survey of London, by John Stow: Reprinted from the text of 1603 Vol1 p44-71 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=60021#s6
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Thurley, Simon, 1991, English Royal Palaces, 1450-1550 (unpub PhD thesis; London) p104-21 [available via http://ethos.bl.uk ]