Nostalgia with Sleaford Museum: Life in Sleaford’s workhouse

The Sleaford Union Workhouse that once stood on East Road was, in fact, the third workhouse in Sleaford, the first built on Westgate in 1726 and later replaced by buildings off The Drove in 1782.
Sleaford Union Workhouse in the late 1800s. EMN-200619-161940001Sleaford Union Workhouse in the late 1800s. EMN-200619-161940001
Sleaford Union Workhouse in the late 1800s. EMN-200619-161940001

The Poor Law Act of 1834 created unions; the Sleaford Union consisting of 56 parishes, stretching from Wellingore to Newton. As a result, this third and final workhouse was built in 1837.

The workhouse was the last resort for many people in desperate circumstances, there was a huge stigma attached to being there. Many were too poor, too old or too ill to look after themselves, unmarried mothers who had been disowned by their families and (prior to the County Asylum) the mentally ill and disabled were also often consigned to the workhouse.

The Union Workhouse was built by John Baker of Westgate at a cost of £3,349 and was intended to house 181 residents, both men and women, in segregated areas. Much additional expense was required to stock the building with beds, mattresses, sheets, blankets and, more morbidly, coffins at £1 each.

By 1840, the workhouse had 124 residents, and the Stamford Mercury of January 1, 1841, reported they ‘partook of English fare on Christmas Day, with a good allowance of ale’. This was not the norm.

Meals were characteristically monotonous and basic. Jobs were allocated in laundry, cleaning and cooking (females) and growing vegetables for food (males) - harsh punishments such as stone breaking or oakum picking were given to those who did not meet targets. Children were educated in the workhouse school and similarly were subjected to harsh punishments for insubordination.

The workhouse infirmary was small and badly ventilated with poor sanitary conditions.

Different categories of patient were often placed together and some forced to share a bed. Medical officers and nurses were poorly trained and often intoxicated by the brandy ‘pain relief’.

The introduction of the Old Age Pension in 1908 and the First World War in 1914 saw numbers fall in workhouses. Sleaford Workhouse was taken over by the Government and used to house German PoWs.

The Sleaford Workhouse was converted to provide residential accommodation for around 100 elderly people and the premises renamed ‘Slea View’ until 1971 when Bonner House was built and the workhouse building was demolished, except for one wall at the entrance. The whole site was redeveloped as the new fire and ambulance station in 2016.

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