It's funny, I can go back --waaaay, waaay back-- on my grandmother's side but not my grandfather's. For him, I've been able to identify an original immigrant to Jamestown who was shipped here as a young adolescent because he was an "orphan" from a place in England called "Bridewell" which we think was a "workhouse" for orphans. Apparently it was a common thing to round up street urchins and ship them to Virginia at the time. He made his way to settle in Maryland but several generations hence some descendants moved back to Virginia where they largely remain (at least my branch!). Point being, you never know what you will find!
I'm gonna keep digging!
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0808900.html
Bridewell , area in London, England, between Fleet St. and the Thames River. The Bridewell house of correction, demolished in 1863, was on the site of a palace built under Henry VIII and given by Edward VI to the City of London in 1553 for use as a training school for homeless apprentices. The building later became a prison. Bridewell thus came to be used as a general term for a prison or house of correction.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005,