Marshalsea

You are standing near the site of the Marshalsea, a prison that dominated this part of Southwark for nearly five hundred years. Its name comes from the old office of the marshal, the official responsible for the security of the king's household. While it originated in the fourteenth century to hold those accused of crimes at sea like piracy and smuggling, it eventually became infamous as a debtors prison where thousands of people were confined for the simple failure to pay what they owed.