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.