Appendix I
Workhouse Museums
There are three workhouse museums in England at Gressenhall, Ripon and Southwell. Each one offers a different aspect of the workhouse but, with the possible exception of the smallest at Ripon, none comes close to replicating what it must have been like to have entered one as an inmate. Very little workhouse furniture survives, so visitors have to walk through bare wards and dining rooms, and it is difficult to imagine them alive with people, particularly as we have almost no connection with life and conditions in the workhouse. It is a world, which fortunately has gone forever.
The museums at Gressenhall and Southwell overcome a lack of artefacts with the use of re-enactors. Although we know quite a lot about how paupers lived, no re-enactor can totally replicate the life of grinding poverty that was the lot of the workhouse inmates.
Both Southwell and Gressenhall were built before 1834, the year of the New Poor Law: Gressenhall in 1776 and Southwell in 1824. Gressenhall was originally a house of industry, a prototype workhouse, which took in all the local unemployed men, women and their families. Today it houses the Norfolk Rural Life Museum.
Southwell was restored and reopened by the National Trust in 2002. It is important because it was the brainchild of a local vicar and social reformer, John Becher, who was one of the architects behind the New Poor Law. The building clearly reflects his ideas of how paupers should be treated.
The Ripon Workhouse opened in 1854, the date proudly emblazoned on the entrance building. Here only the casual wards are open and look more or less as they did a century ago. The rest of the workhouse complex is now offices for the local Social Services.
Southwell and Gressenhall both have small research study areas, staffed by knowledgeable and helpful volunteers. Although the vast majority of records relating to these unions are either at the local record office or The National Archives (TNA), these museums have built up some interesting collections. Both are in the process of listing all the inmates and workhouse staff, and welcome enquiries from people whose ancestors had a connection with the house. The centres are open to the public, although you need to make an appointment.
In addition Guildford Spike is an education centre teaching children about poverty. However, on Tuesdays and Saturdays they hold tours of the building, which originally housed the casual wards of the workhouse.
Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
Gressenhall
East Dereham
NR20 3DR
Tel: 01362 860563
Guildford Spike
The Spike
Warren Road
Guildford
GU1 3JH
Tel: 01483 598420
www.heritage.charlotteville.co.uk
The Workhouse Museum
Allhallowgate
Ripon
North Yorkshire
HG4 1LE
Tel: 01765 690799
The Workhouse
Upton Road
Southwell
NG25 0PT
Tel: 01636 812250
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/workhouse-southwell
The workhouse at Llanfyllin, in the heart of mid-Wales, has become a community centre, with further plans for a history centre. For details see www.llanfyllinworkhouse.com.