Compter

A compter, sometimes referred to as a counter, was a type of small

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

controlled by a sheriff. The inmates were usually civil prisoners, for example

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...

s and debtors. Examples of compters include

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Wood Street Compter The Wood Street Compter (or Wood Street Counter) was a small prison within the City of London in England. It was primarily a debtors' prison, and also held people accused of such misdemeanours as public drunkenness, although some wealthier pris ...

Poultry Compter Poultry Compter (also known as Poultry Counter) was a small prison that stood at Poultry, part of Cheapside in the City of London. The compter was used to lock up minor criminals and prisoners convicted under civil law and was run by the Ci ...

Giltspur Street Compter The Giltspur Street Compter was a compter or small prison, designed by English architect and surveyor George Dance the Younger, mainly used to hold debtors. It was in Giltspur Street, Smithfield, London, Smithfield, close to Newgate, in the City ...

and

Borough Compter The Borough Compter was a small compter or prison initially located in Southwark High Street but moved to nearby Tooley Street in 1717, where it stood until demolished until 1855. It took its name from 'The Borough', a historic name for the Sout ...

and the lock-up over the Abbey Gateway, next to St Laurence's church, in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

(this was the Compter Gate and the lock-up was known as the Compter). '' The Compter's Commonwealth'' (1617), by

William Fennor William Fennor ( fl 1617), also known as Wilhelmus Vener, was an English bilingual English/Dutch poet and rogue of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. He was the author of '' The Compter’s Commonwealth'' (1617).This work was written from his ...

, was a work written from the author's experience of imprisonment at London's

, and is regarded by many historians as one of the principal primary sources for assessment of English 16th-century prison conditions. Penal imprisonment Penology Prisons in the United Kingdom Debtors' prisons {{prison-stub