Workhouses emerged in the early 17th century, as a solution to the ever growing burden of caring for a parish’s poor. The institutions that resulted were notorious for cruel, hard rules, but when people were desperate and had nowhere else to go, the workhouse was the last safe haven, a place offering food, warmth and shelter in return for work.
The Poor Law of 1601 required parishes to fund assistance for their poor. The earliest workhouse on record was erected in 1631 in Abingdon, to give people unable to support themselves work and accommodation. Parallel to that, a system of Outdoor Relief provided assistance in the form of money, food, clothing or goods to help people in poverty, without the requirement for them to enter an institution. Sometimes they would…
