Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Secrets of the Westminster Gatehouse Prison

I had one of my research "Aha!" moments while chasing down facts about Westminster Hall and Whitehall Palace, where my Joanna Stafford spends pivotal chapters in The Covenant.


I learned that in the reign of Edward III a gatehouse quite close to Westminster Abbey was converted into a prison. I couldn't stop reading about the people who were kept there, from Sir Walter Ralegh and Samuel Pepys to a Catholic-leaning dwarf to a brazen woman bigamist. The more I dug, the more stories I discovered.

To read about this fascinating prison, go to my blog.