In 1615 the Middlesex Commission of the Peace bought land in Clerkenwell to the north of Clerkenwell Green to build a new county prison. The house of correction known as the New Prison or Clerkenwell Bridewell was built on part of the site to take overspill from the City of London prisons.
A new county jail was erected in 1615 by the Middlesex Commission of the Peace on land north of Clerkenwell Green. To alleviate congestion, a separate facility called the New Prison or Clerkenwell Bridewell was built nearby to house inmates transferred from London's city prisons.