I visited a friend in Odiham, Hampshire at the weekend, and saw that the term Bridewell was still in use in the village. The Bridewell is now a building housing the library and the police station, but it was once a prison.
Bridewell is a lovely-sounding word, but bridewells were not lovely places. They were houses of correction. The name comes from an old area of London near modern-day Fleet Street, where there was a well dedicated to St Bride. Cardinal Wolsey built a palace here and put it at the disposal of King Henry VIII, who lodged there for a while until he fell out with Wolsey (a Catholic) over his decision to divorce Catherine of Aragon. The 'St' part of the name St Bride's Well eventually disappeared, and the full name became just one word. In 1553 Edward VI handed over the palace to the City of London and it became a place of detention. Later other such buildings throughout the country were also called bridewells.
The term Bridewell is still used by some police forces in the UK, usually as the name of a police station, or of a custody suite.
I always wondered what St. Bridget had to do with lock-ups. Now I know.
Posted by: Jemmy Hope | June 07, 2011 at 08:02 PM
Yes. She herself was very saintly, and probably never came anywhere near a house of correction in her life! Just coincidence that a well named in her honour should end up being near a future prison!
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | June 07, 2011 at 10:30 PM