Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Description
A prison in the poultry.
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Annotations
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A Counter is, in general, a prison or detention facility. For the 17th century, British History Online names, besides the Counter in Poultry, Wood Street Counter (formerly in Bread Street); and the Counter in Southwark, which was in a part of St Margaret’s Church and “in 1714 it was said to be a prison only for debt.”
From: ‘The borough of Southwark: Borough’, A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 135-41. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43042&strquery=counter. Date accessed: 05 April 2007.
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Counter, besides the modern dictionary meanings of counting [up] or against, a ledge, to deal under or over, or an token it can mean a serjeant at law [Countour] , it was a board for counting monies like an abacus
3. A table or desk for counting money, keeping accounts, etc.; a bureau. Obs.
In quot. 1369 perh. an abacus or counting-board.
4. a. A banker’s or money-changer’s table; also, the table in a shop on which the money paid by purchasers is counted out, and across which goods are delivered. The tradesman stands behind the counter; goods are sold and money paid over the counter.
(In modern times the shop-counter is also used for the display of goods, but this is not implied in the name.)1688 R. HOLME Armoury III. 259/1 He [is]..behind a Counter or Counting Table.
5. A counting-house: a. In early use. Obs.
c1386
6. The office, court, or hall of justice of a mayor. Obs. 1479 Mayor ……..7. The prison attached to such a city court; the name of certain prisons for debtors, etc. in London, Southwark, and some other cities and boroughs. In this sense the official spelling from the 17th c. was COMPTER, q.v. Obs. exc. Hist. ……1388 ….
1645 E. PAGITT Heresiogr. (1662) 215 He was committed by the Lord Mayor to the Counter, and from thence removed to the new prison in Maiden Lane.
1631 Wat Tyler in Evans O.B. (1784) I. li. 282 Into the counters then they get, Where men in prison lay for debt; ……..Then other meanings or uses..such as a fake, of no value, debased,
thenII. 3. That part of a horse’s breast which lies between the shoulders and under the neck.
4. Naut. a. The curved part of the stern of a ship.
1. Fencing. A name applied to all circular parries