 Southwell Workhouse
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the cost of caring for the poor
and the sick was increasing alarmingly. Relief offered to those in desperate
situations through unemployment, sickness and homelessness had always been
a controversial issue, and measures were needed to balance the rising costs
against the assistance provided. The Reverend John Becher had already been
working towards a solution in the parish of Southwell by setting up a small
workhouse. In three years his 'system' had reduced the poor
rates by 75% and, encouraged by these results, he sold the idea to some
50 local parishes. By combining their resources to form a 'union',
Becher assured them that his system could be adopted for a larger scale
project. In 1824 the parishes agreed to build the large workhouse that
survives in Southwell today.
When Becher wrote a paper outlining his workhouse system in 1828, it
became influential in the establishment of the New Poor Law of 1834.
Priorities under his system were to reduce the poor rates and, at the
same time, improve the moral demeanour of the poor. The workhouse could
offer shelter, food, and clothing to the destitute but, in return, the
inmates would be required to undertake sufficient amounts of hard labour.
Based on the Southwell Workhouse blueprint, some 600 union workhouses were established
throughout the country by 1840, although they were seen by many as a
last resort. Managed under a strict regime of supervision, classification
and segregation, the workhouse acted as a deterrent for those who were
simply too idle to help themselves. Apart from the able-bodied men and
women taken into the workhouse, accommodation was also made available
for children, and the old and infirm.
The Southwell Workhouse site is roughly square in design,
with a three-storey accommodation block cutting through the centre and courtyards either side, and the
whole enclosed within walls. One half of the building was used by women,
the other by men. The central core of the building housed the staff
and children, ensuring that all classes of inmate were kept separate.
Men would maintain the vegetable garden, carry out decorating and maintenance
on the workhouse, break stones for road laying and other physical tasks.
Women were set to work in the laundry or the kitchen, or perhaps given
knitting and sewing duties. Meanwhile, the children's day was split
between a basic education in the classroom, and industrial training for
a useful future.
Through the nineteenth century the emphasis began
to shift from the able-bodied inmates to those infirm and unable to
work. As the type and number of inmates decreased, more staff joined the workhouse to undertake
the tasks once performed by the able-bodied. There were nurses, cooks,
laundry maids and gardeners in the early twentieth century, looking after
the workhouse and the sick or elderly. In 1913 workhouses became known
as 'institutions', and Southwell was renamed 'Greet
House'. During the 1920s a new hospital was established for the
care of terminally ill patients, and a mortuary was added.
Greet House remained an infirmary for specialist
care for many years, but the women's wing was later used by the
council to temporarily house single mothers. When the last residents
moved out of the Southwell building in the early 1990s, it was sold to a developer. Recognised to
be one of the best preserved examples of a Victorian workhouse, it was
eventually purchased, repaired and restored by the National Trust. Southwell
Workhouse today accurately reflects life as seen by the inmates in the
mid nineteenth century, and is a lasting memorial to Reverend Becher
who pioneered the system. |
