A workhouse trail
Introduction
This building was built as a
House of Industry in 1777. The
House of Industry looked after
poor people from the sixty
villages and towns in the
Hundred of Mitford and
Launditch. It was called a
House of Industry because
adults were put to work to help
pay for their keep.
Conditions in the House of
Industry were tough. However,
poor families were allowed to
live together and could earn
some money from their work. It
was a bit like a community of
the poor.
This changed in 1834 when
Parliament passed the Poor
Law Amendment Act.
1: Dining Room
People were worried about the
cost of looking after the Poor.
The 1834 Act made sure that
there were workhouses all over
the country. It made life in a
workhouse as hard as possible
so that people only came in if
they were desperate.
Inmates ate their meals in
silence. They sat on three rows
of benches facing the long wall
of the dining hall. The
workhouse diet was very boring. Inmates ate lots of gruel, a
watery porridge. They also ate
a lot of bread – a small loaf
every day! There was little
nutrition and few vitamins.
The workhouse was run by a
Master. A Board of Guardians,
well-off taxpayers from the
area, met every Monday to
make sure everything was run
properly.
Inmates were given one decent
meal a year, on Christmas
Day. Because this cost money,
the Guardians voted every year
to decide whether to pay for a
Christmas meal. They voted
in favour every year except
one,
December 1856, ‘Mr. J.P.
Smith gave notice that he
would move that no extra
Christmas dinner be this year
given to the Pauper Inmates of
the Workhouse at the cost of
the Union.’
2: Receiving room
Paupers (poor people) were
bathed (scrubbed with carbolic
soap) when they entered the
workhouse. Their hair was cut
short to get rid of nits.
They were given workhouse
uniforms and sent to their
dormitories or wards. Paupers
wore uniforms because this
made sure that everyone was
properly clothed. Many people
entered the workhouse with
their clothes in a terrible state.
The uniforms also took away
people’s individuality. It was
hoped that if everyone looked
the same they would behave
the same.
Families were separated when
they entered the workhouse.
This harsh treatment was
intended to discourage people
from entering. It also stopped
poor married couples having
more children and costing the
taxpayer more money. Families
were allowed to see each other
for one hour on Sunday after
the church service.
Inmate categories:
Class 1: Men infirm through
age or any other cause
Class 2: Able-bodied males
over fifteen
Class 3: Boys between seven
and fifteen
Class 4: Women infirm through
age or any other cause
Class 5: Able-bodied females
over fifteen
Class 6: Girls between seven
and fifteen
Class 7: Children under seven
3: Men’s work room
Adults had to work to help pay
for their keep. Male inmates
often picked oakum. Oakum is
small strands or fibres picked
from old ship’s rope using nails
or spikes. It was used to
waterproof (caulk) wooden
ships. Oakum picking was dirty
work. Only two groups of
people picked oakum:
workhouse inmates and
prisoners. This tells us a lot
about how poor people were
viewed in Victorian England.
Some male paupers refused to
pick oakum.
26 May 1856, ‘William Ayton, a
casual Pauper in the
Workhouse, has been brought
before the Board charged with
refusing to perform the task of
work allotted to him in picking
Oakum.’
4: Dungeon
5: Men’s work yard
7: Workhouse Entrance
Inmates guilty of refractory
conduct (not obeying the rules)
were placed in the refractory
cell. This was also known as
the dungeon. They were put in
solitary confinement for up to
12 hours at a time on a bread
and water diet. They were
given a bucket to go to the
toilet in.
This was the men’s work yard.
Poor male inmates were locked
out here to get on with work
like picking oakum. They used
work tools to scratch their
names on the wall.
The workhouse was not a
prison. Adult inmates could
leave if they gave the Master
one day’s notice.
Refractory offences included;
being noisy, dirty, refusing to
work, swearing, malingering,
attempting to enter a ward of
another class, disobedience,
absconding from the
workhouse and assault.
Corporal (physical) punishment
for adults was not allowed.
However, children could be
caned. For more serious
offences, inmates were sent to
the magistrates where they
were tried and could be sent to
prison.
In July 1872 a troublesome
young woman named Anna
Pilch was brought before the
Guardians for ‘neglecting and
refusing to go to bed at the
appointed time.’
For this minor offence she was
sent to prison for 21 days. The
workhouse authorities were
worried that if inmates were
allowed to get up and go to bed
when they chose the routine of
the workhouse would break
down. There were about ten
members of staff to look after
between 350 and 450 poor
inmates. The rules were strict
to try to keep order.
One of the worst things about
the workhouse was boredom.
Inmates faced the same
routine day after day. The
workhouse authorities seem to
have turned a blind eye to the
graffiti. It was a rare chance for
inmates to show they were
individuals.
6: Laundry:
Many female inmates worked
in the laundry. There were few
able-bodied paupers in the
workhouse. Many inmates
were young, old and sick
people. The workhouse
needed a large laundry to keep
clothes and bedding clean. The
workhouse was not a horrible,
dirty place. The workhouse
authorities tried to keep it as
clean as they could.
Other female inmates worked
as nurses.
5 August 1844. Mitford and
Launditch Guardians Minutes. ‘Ordered that five shillings be given to Mary Ann
Nichols and Lucy Loveday for
their services in the Union
Workhouse in nursing 80
children sick with Measles and
Typhus.’
Walls were built around the
workhouse after 1834. They
made sure that only deserving
poor people came in. Every
town near the workhouse had a
relieving officer. Poor people
who wanted to enter the
workhouse went to the
relieving officer. If he thought
they were needy enough he
would write out a ticket which
they would bring to the workhouse door. Without a ticket
you were not allowed into the
workhouse.
8: Casual’s yard
Most poor people in the workhouse came from nearby towns
and villages. Casuals, or
tramps, were an exception.
They came into the workhouse
for one or two days. Their
clothes were washed and they
were given food and a bed. In
return they had to work.
Casuals were thought to be a
bad influence. They were
housed in a courtyard away
from other inmates.
Casuals were known to destroy
their old clothes in the hope of
being given new ones when
they left the workhouse.
28 April 1859. Mitford and
Launditch Guardians
Minutes. ‘John West a casual
wayfarer having while in the
Workhouse destroyed his
clothes is directed to be taken
before a Magistrate.’
Unmarried mothers were
housed in the single story
building in this yard. They were
also thought to be a bad
influence. During the 1830s
they were made to wear a
special jacket to show who
they were They became know
as ’jacket women’. Neither
casuals nor unmarried mothers
were given Christmas dinner.
9: Cherry Tree Cottage
The strict separation of families
lasted less than twenty years.
In 1853 the elderly married
couples’ ward was built.
Well-behaved elderly couples
were allowed to live together in
one of six small rooms. Today,
Cherry Tree Cottage is
displayed as a 1930s house.
You can still see the slots of
the original room partitions in
the rafters.
10: Burial ground
Burial has always been
expensive. Paupers were
buried in the workhouse burial
ground. They were given no
monument or head stone,
Bodies were buried naked
wrapped in a paper or strip of
calico and placed in a cheap
coffin of the thinnest wood
lined with sawdust instead of
linen. Graves were re-used
when the burial ground filled
up. Many of the graves hold 15
to 20 bodies. We do not know
how many poor people were
buried here.
11: School
All children between 5 and 10
years old were given an
elementary education. They
were taught history and
geography as well as the usual
four R’s of Reading, Writing,
Arithmetic and Religion.
There were three hours of
lessons in the morning. In the
afternoon children were offered
more practical training. Sewing
and domestic activities for
women, agricultural training for
the boys.
The workhouse authorities did
what they could for poor
children, They found them
apprenticeships and, on at
least one occasion, paid for a
child to move to America to live
with relatives. In part this was
because they cared, in part it
was to save money, every child
with a job was one person less
in the workhouse
Children were given occasional
treats.
3 March 1851. ‘Mr George
Wombwell having on Friday
last gratuitously admitted all
the children of the workhouse
schools to his exhibition of wild
beasts at East Dereham the
Clerk is ordered to convey the
Guardians sense of his
kindness on this occasion.’
Was the Workhouse So
Bad?
Life in the workhouse was
tough. However, we should
remember that poor people
were forced to come in
because outside they faced
terrible living conditions, no
education or medical care.