Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Sponging-house" in English language version.
Maintained by sheriff's officers and lesser court officials, lock-up houses held recently arrested debtors while they attempted to secure bail or settle with their creditors. They were commonly referred to a 'spunging-houses', a term that reflected the excessive fees extracted by their keepers.
Without doubt, this sentence had its rise in the dread of the sponging-house which now possessed him.
Montagu Williams, the barrister and writer, described Sloman's [sponging-house], in his Round London, through the eyes of a friend who was taken there, and declared to Williams: 'Slowman's, the sponging house in Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane. Ah, my dear fellow, you've never seen a sponging house! Ye gods! What a place! [...]'
