The Workhouse, Southwell (also known as Greet House, Southwell Union Workhouse, Thurgarton Hundred Incorporated Workhouse)

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit the The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

The grounds of an early 19th-century workhouse opened in 1824, designed by the architect William Nicholson following instructions from the Rev John Thomas Becher. Its deterrent system was widely disseminated, being published by Becher in The Anti-Pauper System (1828) together with a plan of the layout, and both the system and plan became influential on other workhouses.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

The c 2.5ha site lies 1.5km east of the centre of Southwell on the north side of the main A612 Southwell to Newark road. The site falls gently from north to south towards the River Greet which runs close to the south of the site. The north-east side is bounded by Greet House, a residential home built in 1926 as a new infirmary occupying part of the former gardens of the Workhouse, and to the north of this by the road to Normanton. To the north-west it is bounded by a lane linking the Southwell to Newark Road with Normanton Road, and to the south-east by the grounds of Caudwell House, a children's home (1937) set in a block of land which was probably formerly used as agricultural land by the Workhouse. The south side of the site is bounded by the A612. Most of the boundary is marked by a clipped hedge. The setting is rural, with close by to the north-west the grounds of The Hall, whose south-east shelter belt of trees partially screens the Workhouse site. Views extend north-west towards The Hall and its grounds, south-west towards Southwell and its Minster, and south and south-east towards distant low hills.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The site is approached from the south-west off the A612 via a pedestrian gateway (replaced 2001) at the south-west tip of the site, giving access from Southwell and Newark. From here a path leads north-east through a newly created (2001) car park, then across the centre of a field towards the centre of the south-west front of the main building. Some 50m south-west of the main building the path is flanked by a clipped beech hedge which divides the field from an area of orchard lying adjacent to the building and yards. The path arrives at the central entrance to the Workhouse building, flanked by two brick walls of the first-class male and female paupers' exercise yards arranged in such a way as to funnel the path in to the front door. The building is approached via a short flight of stone steps leading to the stone-clad front doorcase. This was the original entrance for the governing committee and governor and other important visitors. It appears that formerly there may have been a wall or fence enclosing the area immediately in front of the main entrance, linking the walls of the exercise yards and thus creating a small forecourt (OS 1898, 1915).

Two further entrances, off the lane to the north-west, give access to the northern end of the site and the service yards on the north-east side of the main building. The southern entrance off the lane gives access to two entrances in the brick wall at the north corner of the north-west yard, and at the east corner of the south-east yard, these having been designed for use by the pauper women and men respectively. These entrances into the service yards became disused at some point in the C19 (plan, in Becher 1828; OS 1898), and they have recently (2001) been reopened. It appears that the approach for paupers was intended from the early C19 (Sanderson, 1835) to have been along this lane or off Normanton Road, rather than via the central path. The northern entrance off the lane provides access into a later, outer service yard dividing the service range adjacent to the main building from the 1926 infirmary known as Greet House to the north-east. This yard is bounded to the north-west by a stable and mortuary block of the 1920s, the 1820s' service range to the south-west, the 1871 Infirmary to the south-east, and Greet House (1926) to the north-east.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Thurgarton Hundred Workhouse (listed grade II*) stands towards the centre of the site. Built in 1824 to a design by the Rev Becher, assisted by the architect William Nicholson, it comprises three storeys with cellar, of red brick. Three ranges emanate from a central octagonal hub which contains the committee room on the ground floor, and the accommodation for the governor on the first and second floors. The windows of the committee room and governor's apartment in the hub overlook the four separate exercise yards on the south-west front, aiding inspection. The central position of these rooms also meant that the governor had equal access to the three wings which were assigned to men (south-east), women (north-west) and children (north-east). Within their accommodation men and women were divided into first- and second-class inmates as defined by Becher: respectively those of 'good character and conduct' (in practice the elderly) and those deemed 'idle, immoral and improvident' (in practice the able-bodied). The accommodation for each class included day rooms (ground floor), dormitories (first and second floors), staircases, and yards, and was intended to segregate them in order to prevent mixing. Views extend south-west from the two upper floors towards the River Greet and Southwell Minster, but are partially obscured from the ground floor by the walls of the exercise yards.

To the north-east of the main building, separated by the two service yards lying side-by-side, stands a range of service buildings (1824), the north-west half having recently (2001) been rebuilt. These contained an infirmary, isolation cell for refractory paupers, cow house, stable, bathhouse, washhouse, and bakehouse. Parts have been converted for office use. Further north, adjacent to the north-west boundary, stands a mortuary and stable block (early C20), with, opposite, against the south-east boundary, the 1871 infirmary. This two-storey red-brick building faces north-west into the outer service yard.

The annotated layout of the Workhouse was published by Becher (1828) and influenced the design of new workhouse buildings at Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, and Ongar, Essex. The Thurgarton system was implemented at other existing workhouses, including Uley, Gloucestershire, St Werburgh, Derby, and Penzance and Redruth in Cornwall (Morrison 1999).

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The grounds were not laid out primarily for ornament, but for productive purposes and to provide exercise for the pauper inmates. To achieve these aims the grounds were divided into two main areas: the paupers' enclosed exercise and service yards situated adjacent to the main building, and the productive land beyond.

The yards attached to the main building date from the 1824 phase and are divided into two main sections: those to provide exercise and fresh air which occupy the south-west front of the main building, and those on the north-east front, which accommodated service activities. The four main exercise yards occupy the whole of the south-west front, from which they are entered and overlooked. Windows in the west and south sides of the octagonal hub, situated in the committee room and governor's bedroom, give views of all four yards. They are surrounded on three sides by c 2m high brick walls, and on the fourth, north-east side by the main building, from which each one is entered via a door at ground-floor level, which is above yard level. The doorways are paired in small porches which give direct access from the staircases and day rooms of the respective classes of inmate. Two yards each were allocated for females and males, to the north-west and south-east of the main entrance respectively, mirroring their accommodation in the building. The second-class paupers (ie those deemed idle, immoral and improvident by Becher, and largely comprising the able-bodied) used the outer yards, and the first-class paupers (ie those deemed by Becher to be of good character and conduct, and comprising largely the elderly) used the inner two yards which are somewhat larger. Each yard contains a semicircular privy, standing attached to the south-west boundary wall. The south-west, outer wall of each yard contains a doorway giving access to the orchard and field beyond. Elements of the walls and privies have recently (2001) been rebuilt while the exercise yards have been relaid to asphalt, following archaeological excavation which indicated that this was the surfacing material towards the end of the C19.

Two larger, rectangular service yards occupy the north-east front of, and are overlooked by, the main building. They are divided by the third wing, which housed children, and bounded by the service range to the north-east and brick walls to the other two sides. These yards have also been laid to asphalt, the late C19 surfacing material, and a pump stands at the centre of each one.

A single-storey extension is attached to the north-west front of the main building; this may have been a schoolroom. A doorway from this opens to the south-west into a further yard, lying adjacent to the second-class females' yard, which is surrounded by 2m high iron fencing.

The 1871 infirmary, standing to the north-east of the main building, is set in its own grounds, on land formerly worked by the inmates. The building is approached from the outer service yard to the north-west, and is fronted by two exercise yards bounded by low brick walls which formerly supported iron railings, elements of which remain in places. The yards are laid to lawn, planted with several mature specimen trees, and each is enclosed by a perimeter path. To the rear, south-east, of the building are further enclosed service spaces and buildings, lying adjacent to the site boundary.

KITCHEN GARDEN

The inmates were intended to be supported largely by the work of the able-bodied paupers. To this end the attached ground to the south-west and to the north-east, together with further adjacent land (outside the area here registered) was given over to productive crops which they worked. Currently (2002) the c 2ha to the south-west is divided into two main sections. That closest to the main building, divided from the field beyond by the clipped beech hedge, contains several mature fruit trees, with a path running from north-west to south-east along the bottom of the airing-yard wall, and two spurs leading south-west off this. These appear to be the remains of paths shown on a map of 1929 (NCC) when the ground was divided into rectangular quarters of various sizes flanking the main approach path. South-west of the beech hedge, the field, enclosed by clipped hedges and bisected by the main approach path, has recently been reseeded and a tarmac car park laid out at the south-west boundary. This area was in recent times (late C20) a nursery, with nursery buildings occupying the area now (2002) used as a car park (National Trust 1999).

REFERENCES

Rev J T Becher, The Anti-Pauper System, Exemplifying the Positive and Practical Good realised by the Relievers and the Relieved under the Frugal, Beneficial and Lawful Administration of the Poor Laws Prevailing at Southwell (1828; 2nd edition 1834)

CKC Archaeology, Archaeological excavations in the garden area, Thurgarton Workhouse, (report for National Trust, February 1999)

K Morrison, The Workhouse, a study of Poor-Law buildings in England (1999), pp 36-42, 208, 231

National Trust, The Workhouse, Southwell Garden Conservation Plan, (unpublished report, March 1999)

Description written: January 2002

Amended: April 2002

Edited: April 2002