Green’s Dictionary of Slang

spinning house n.

a workhouse.

1641		J. Evelyn Diary 19 Aug. (1850) I 22: As we returned, we stepped in to see the Spin-house, a kind of Bridewell, where incorrigible and lewd women are kept in discipline and order.
1803		‘A Pembrochian’ Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 126: Spinning House, an ergastulum; a house of labour and correction; a prison for prostitutes under the jurisdiction of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.
1840		Life of J. Howard in Chivalry and Charity 150: A spinning house, or Bridewell for women, at Amsterdam.
1851		Morn. Chron. (London) 2 Jan. 5/5: The institution in question is called ‘Hobson’s Workhouse,’ but is more generally known as the ‘Spinning House’.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1891		Worcs. Chron. 7 Mar. 6/1: Unusual prominence has been given [...] to the Spinning House at Cambridge [...] women of the class we rightly call ‘unfortunate’ were caught and committed to prison [...] preparing hemp and spinning.