More about the Workhouse

We've collected together some of our pictures...

People got put in the Workhouse if they were poor.  There were no benefits then. 

Everything about living at the Workhouse was hard....



The beds were hard...



You had to pump hard to get water..



You had to work hard...men broke stones, dug holes and made rope in the winter.  Women did cleaning, polishing and so on. They still grow vegetables like they did in Victorian times.



Ricky gives his thoughts about going to the Workhouse

 "This visit prompted thought around man and financial issues as well as nature.  (The Workhouse) was an alternative to benefits!  Kinder than slavery but still very strict.  If you don’t co-operate there was no meat for meals.  Male and female were not interacting with each other.  As long as you co-operated then it was fine.  People would have been used to it being stricter then.  You had to work.  Couldn’t get money for nothing.  Found it very interesting. 

 

I was aware of Workhouse before but hadn’t been in.  There were two separate courtyards for men and women.  One or two corners where the Master couldn’t see.  They made their own version of a sundial.

John’s story brought it to life for me.  Makes you think of the reason they started doing these benefits.   

In the schoolroom we found that the left-hand was considered the “devil’s hand.” 

People had to do repetitive and time-consuming jobs.  They broke stones.  They made rope.  They dug holes and they filled them in again.  You got callouses on your fingers.

It was a good day out."



Life at the Workhouse....

On 23rd August the group visited Southwell Workhouse.  This wasn't in our original plans but we wanted to find out more about this important local building which is the best preserved workhouse in the country. In Victorian times people were put in the Workhouse if they were poor and couldn't find work.  They were given lots of work to do because it was thought that they were lazy.


Workhouse staff and volunteers bought the past to life for us through costumes and stories.  It helped us understand why people had to come here and to imagine what life was like for them.  It made us think about how important nature was to people then, because if they couldn't work on the land during Winter then the Workhouse might be the next stop.

You can find out more about the Workhouse at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/workhouse-southwell