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Clink Liberty was the name commonly used for the manor of the Bishop of Winchester in Southwark. It had been granted to the bishops by King Stephen. The bishops usually had a role as royal ministers, and as the importance of Winchester decreased they commonly lived in their Southwark palace, Winchester House. The first mention of the 'Clink' occurs in 1530, when the king granted the offices of bailiff and keeper of the manor of the Clink to Thomas Dawson and William Burdett respectively. In the religious upheavals of the 1530s onwards the lordship was taken by the Crown and in 1551 this was confirmed when the Dean and Chapter of Winchester vested the manor in the king. However, the Elizabethan bishops of Winchester often lived in Southwark. At this date the house fronted the river and had its own wharf and stairs.
In 1642 the house was turned into a prison by Act of Parliament. In 1649 the trustees for the estates of bishoprics sold the "Winchester Liberty or Clink Liberty" to Thomas Walker of Southwark. On the Restoration the lordship reverted to the bishopric of Winchester, but was not used again as the episcopal residence, and was rented out to several tenants and the building deteriorated. By 1863 the property had been parcelled out to various buyers including the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Charing Cross Railway Company and the wardens of St Saviour's Church. The rights of lordship were vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
Information from: 'The borough of Southwark: Manors', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 141-151 (available online).