Two Theatres and A Prison
There are unusual bollards on Ensign Street, with the mark "RBT". The initials stand for "Royal Brunswick Theatre". The Royalty was built here in 1787 by John Palmer. John Braham (1774 - 1756) sang at the Royalty in the same year that it opened, at the age of 14. It was burnt down in 1828. The "Royal Brunswick" It was built in its place in 1828. It collapsed almost as soon as it had been built, on 28 February 1828.
The Neptune Street Prison became familiarly known in the district as 'The Sly House'. Also known as Wellclose prison, it's remaining structures have now been preserved inside the Museum of London, where you can see the names of prisoners, scratched on the wooden wall panels by prisoners using pine cones.
Read more about this topic: Wellclose Square
Famous quotes containing the words theatres and/or prison:
“Towns are full of people, houses full of tenants, hotels full of guests, trains full of travelers, cafés full of customers, parks full of promenaders, consulting-rooms of famous doctors full of patients, theatres full of spectators, and beaches full of bathers. What previously was, in general, no problem, now begins to be an everyday one, namely, to find room.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“You ain’t got much, Stroud, but you keep subtracting from it.”
—Guy Trosper, U.S. screenwriter, and John Frankenheimer. Kramer, a prison guard (Crahan Denton)