Sunday 29 May 2016

Loughborough Union Workhouse

A couple of months ago I finally got around to visiting the workhouse at Southwell, which is now a National Trust property, but was once a workhouse for the surrounding areas, where people who were down on their luck could go to get a roof over their head and food in their belly. 

I hope I haven't made that sound too attractive, for it certainly wasn't, and for many reasons people would try and avoid getting into the position where they needed help from a workhouse. Could it have had something to do with the prison-like buildings (I searched for workhouse plans on the internet, and followed this up with a search for prison plans and couldn't help but notice the similarity of design, particularly with Wandsworth Prison)? Or perhaps it was the strict wearing of uniforms that deterred folk? Or was it the arduous tasks, like stone crushing and oakum picking that people were put to that kept them away from the workhouse? Or maybe the food wasn't up to much - relatively plain, but enough to keep you going? Or maybe it was the idea that you would be separated from your family that meant you only went to the workhouse as a truly last and desperate measure?

Of course, workhouses across the country, whilst being similar, were not all the same, some being more generous with food rations than others, some having kitchen gardens where "inmates" would work, etc.. 

The Loughborough Workhouse was originally on the site now occupied by the Post Office Sorting Office, on Nottingham Road, at its junction with the A60. The new Loughborough Union Workhouse was built in 1838, after the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act (the New Poor Law), which meant that people had to enter the workhouse in order to seek help, rather than be given money by the local parish. It was located on Derby Road, behind what are now Oxford and Leopold Streets, and on Regent Street. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and W. Bonython Moffatt, to a design which they used very successfully in many locations. In about 1871, the former workhouse on Nottingham Road became the Star Foundry, under Edwin Cook.

Following the Local Government Act of 1929, which abolished Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians, workhouses were controlled by public assistance authorities which were run by local councils. And so it was in 1930 that the Loughborough Union Workhouse became a public assistance institution and was renamed Hastings House. This was followed by another change around 1948 when it was renamed as the Regent Hospital: as might be inferred from the name it became a hospital as well as an old people's home.

I used to live at the Regent Street end of Oxford Street in the early 1980s and I remember Regent Hospital as it was then. I also remember it being demolished and new houses being built on the site. Regrettably, I don't remember exactly when this happened, nor did I take any photographs. 

As well as the new houses that were built, a new care home, Huntingdon Court, was also built on the site.

Pictures of the workhouse have been hard to come by, but there is one of the Board of Guardians outside the workhouse in the early twentieth century, a picture of the Guardians' Boardroom, and the workhouse appears in the background of this picture of terraced houses on Union Lane/Street.

There is also an interesting article on the workhouse, and other Loughborough information on this site.

And now I've run out of time, and haven't even got to the point I was heading to! Pop back to the blog next week for more on the connection between George Hodson, the Loughborough Union Workhouse, Zeppelin raids and a tramp! In the meantime, below are some photographs from my recent visit to Southwell Workhouse.
Southwell Workhouse with the kitchen garden to the front

The water pump at Southwell Workhouse

A boot scraper at Southwell Workhouse

The stone crushing yard at Southwell Workhouse

A view today from below stairs at Southwell Workhouse

Below stairs at Southwell Workhouse

Pots at Southwell Workhouse

Beds for the elderly and infirm at Southwell Workhouse

An upstairs room in Southwell Workhouse
The entrance to Southwell Workhouse


Clothes drying at Southwell Workhouse
 
Below stairs at Southwell Workhouse

Below stairs at Southwell Workhouse

The separate yards at Southwell Workhouse

12 comments:

  1. It was still called Hastings House when I worked there in 1970/71. A lot of elderly people were afraid even in those days as they remembered it as a workhouse.

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  2. Hi Unknown! Thanks for telling us that the workhouse was still known as Hastings House in 1970-71. I think it was common around the country to remember the workhouse with a certain amount of fear, so when they changed to hospitals (like Babbington hospital in Belper, and St Mary's in Melton) and old people's homes (like ours) people held these views of the places. Lynne

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  3. Sadly your links to images no longer seem to work

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    1. Hi Peter! Thanks for reading the blog and taking the time and trouble to comment. Yes, there are many links to photos on the blog that no longer work. There used to be a lovely site that had some wonderful pohotos of Loughborough, which I linked to, as I don't own the copyright to any old photos myself (hence all photos used in the blog are my own), but, like many resources on the internet, they simply disappeared one day. Sadly, with 350 blog posts posted over 7 years, I haven't time to go back and update every link as in many cases this would require a re-write too. Photos of Loughborough's workhouse do appear in a varuety of places, for example: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2490184411018935&id=1028061187231272 and https://www.facebook.com/groups/rememberloughborough/permalink/995544140490854 Thank you again, for getting in touch, Lynne

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  4. Hi there
    My 3 times great grandparents Alfred John Wright and Emma Wright were the master and matron of loughborough workhouse between 1874 and 1880 I believe. He died in post aged about 39 and Emma was still there as a widow on the 1881 census.
    Alfred was a Police Constable in Hertfordshire before that and his father was a very early police inspector in Royston Cambridgeshire in 1851. Alfred and Emma only had one daughter (FLorence) who married Robert Hargraves from Loughborough whose parents were the publicans of the GOlden Fleece in Fishpool head. Probably not of interest to you but I thought i would add some additional information for you. YOu never know when it might help someone.

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    1. Hi voiceofcommonsense! Thank you so much for reading the blog and taking the time and trouble to comment! What a lot of information you have shared here - I'm sure there are likely to be people out there who will have a Eureka moment when they discover that they are related to some of the people and families you mention! Thanks for sharing! Lynne

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  5. My grandmother Annie Elizabeth Smith (single), gave birth to a baby boy on 2nd Sept. 1879 in Loughborough Union Workhouse. Is it possible to obtain a list of inmates etc., at that time, and when she entered and left the workhouse, they do not show on the 1881 census there. Any information would be most appreciated please.

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    1. Hi David! Thank you for getting in touch. I believe the records for the Loughborough Union Workhouse, 1837-1939, are held at the Record office for Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland, which is in Wigston. You can search their catalogue here: http://record-office-catalogue.leics.gov.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx I searched for Loughborough Workhouse. Thnak you again for reading the blog and for taking the time and trouble to comment. Lynne

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    2. Back in 1988 or 1989 whilst working for Leicestershire Council I recall visiting a Childcare Youth Training Scheme based on the site that was still called Regents Hospital at the time. I seem to remember the YTS scheme was based in mobile units in the grounds but there was a great looming Victorian building in the background that looked in a poor state of repair. I had no idea at the time that this was the old workhouse. I think it was demolished soon after because the YTS scheme had to move.

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    3. Hi Anonymous! Yes, it does sounds as though the Victorian building looming in the background might have been the former workhouse, which was demolished and some of the site now has houses on it. Thanks for reading the blog! Lynne

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  6. My Great-grandmother, Louisa Sleath (daughter of Joseph Sleath) was born in the Loughborough Workhouse in 1866. Louisa's Grandfather, Joseph Sleath Sr, died in that same workhouse in 1847.

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    1. Hi Anonymous! Workhouses were such sad places. Thank you for sharing your family story. Lynne

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