A place in the Borough of Southwark, formerly privileged from arrests; and inhabited by lawless vagabonds of every denomination, called, from the place of their residence, clinkers. Also a gaol, from the clinking of the prisoners’ chains or fetters: he is gone to clink.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Clinch * ClinkersNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes