Get to Work — The Bridewells

The bridewell, or workhouse, is created for the employment and housing of waywards and vagabonds. London is the first town to establish such an institution — on the site of the old Bridewell Hospital — in 1555. In 1576, Parliament instructs all British counties to construct similar workhouses. Private businesses negotiate contracts with local governments to operate them. Soon prison workhouses are common throughout Europe as well. With the advent of bridewells, convicts begin to inhabit separate punitive institutions for the first time.

Reconstruction of Newgate Prison, with original iron doors