Lichfield Workhouse

Continuing with more post cards and old pictures, I was sent this snap shot of an old post card. This is the location where Sarah Ellen Crossley (Toon / Fletcher) Dawson and her mother Hannah Crossley were both born. They were the mother and grandmother of my grandmother Mary Ellen (Dawson) Pott.

LICHFIELD WORKHOUSE

Birthplace of Hannah and Sarah Ellen Crossley

Photographs

A- Main Building

A – Main building. The centre 3-story section is the Masters domain. The 2 storey wings on either side are the separated accommodation for the paupers, females one side, males the other.

B- Centre block

B – Centre of the main building, the masters’ domain viewed from the road through the entrance archway.

C– Right hand dormitory of the main building.

C- Dormitory

D & F – Entrance gateway from the road with the single storey boardroom and office on the left and the chapel on the right.

D- Main Entrance

 

F- Main Entrance

E–  Left of the entrance building, the Boardroom and office. The main building can be seen to the rear of the entrance building across the courtyard. To the left you can see some of one of the dormitories and over the top, in the centre the tower over the 3-storey masters domain.  

 History



The two buildings took nearly two years to build and were opened on May 8, 1840. Able-bodied paupers were used in its construction and the specifications stipulated "bricks to be made from clay dug from the foundations". The only bricks purchased were the blue bricks used in the diaper (cris-cross) decoration to be seen on the front and sides of the main buildings.

The workhouse comprised of two main buildings. The entrance to the main building was through a two-story archway (now under a preservation order). On either side of this archway were single story wings, the one to the northeast housing a Chapel and the one to the southeast housing a Board Room and offices.

The archway was gated and the whole of the Institution and land was enclosed behind a brick wall and surmounted at intervals by spikes. The windows were distinctive, being fashioned with mullions and transoms.

Through the archway and across a courtyard stood the main building. Here again the same pattern was followed, but this time with two-storey wings flanking a three-storey central building which was the Masters’ domain. The front door of the Master’s house had a stone porch and an ornamental cupola occupied the centre of the roof. The wings of the house provided accommodation on one side for female and on the other for male paupers, both sexes being firmly separated by the Master’s house and dividing walls across the courtyard. A single storey dining hall was sited at the rear of the Master’s house and the whole building had many gables, typical of buildings at that time.

It is assumed that the buildings were over old foundations of the previous Parish Workhouse but no written evidence has been found to substantiate this.

The paupers had to work hard, rising at 5.45 a.m. their days work beginning at 7.00 a.m. until 12.00 p.m., an hour’s break and starting again at 1.00 p.m. finishing at 6.00 p.m. Bedtime was at the early time of 8.00 p.m. The men picked Oakum and broke stones, whilst the women carried out work appropriate to their physical capacity.

Adequate, though Spartan, sanitary arrangements were made, night closets being provided. However these closets were locked first thing in the morning and opened late at night by the Master or the Guardian.

No tea. Tea was a luxury item.

The female paupers had one toilet in their wing and another by the entrance gate to the hospital. This outside toilet had no door and no privacy was afforded. When the women needed a bath they had to go outside their own wing and behind the Master’s house to the end of the male wing where a bathroom had been provided. Stipulations were that all the paupers should be kept clean and provided with a change of clothing once a week.

In spite of these rigorous conditions paupers were probably much better off within the Province of the Workhouse than those people living in hovels in the city and surrounding villages who had no conveniences and no, or very meagre, financial means. The workhouse paupers were provided with food, warmth and shelter.

The buildings today are part of St, Michael’s Hospital in Lichfield run by The National Health service. It caters for about 140 patients, mainly Senior Citizens. This extract was from a history of the workhouse written by E.J. Leighfield, based on the reading of the journals of the patrons which were kept at the hospital until they were given to The Lichfield Local studies Center for safe keeping were I have actually read some journals during this period in my search for information on both Hannah and Sarah Ellen Crossley, both born at the workhouse.