CLERKENWELL (klar'ken-wel), a district on the north side of the City of London, England, within the metropolitan borough of Finsbury (q.v.). It is so called from one of several wells or springs in this district, near which miracle plays were performed by the parish clerks of London. This well existed until the middle of the 19th century. Here was situated a priory, founded in Hoc), which grew to great wealth and fame as the principal institution in England of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Its gateway (15o4), in St. John's Square, survived the suppression of the monasteries, and was the scene of Dr. Johnson's work in connection with the Gentleman's Magazine. In modern times the gatehouse again became associated with the Order, and is the headquarters of the St. John's Ambulance Association. An early English crypt remains beneath the neighbouring parish church of St. John, where the notorious deception of the "Cock Lane Ghost," in which Johnson took great interest, was exposed. Adjoining the priory was St. Mary's Benedictine nunnery, St. James's church (1792) marking the site. In the 17th century Clerkenwell be came a fashionable place of residence. It has small watch-making and jeweller's industries, which have been long established here.