A workhouse was a place where, from the 17th to the end of the 19th centuries, people who didn't have enough money to pay for food and lodging were offered a bed, meals and work.

Workhouses were designed to be grim buildings. Men and women were separated, and children separated from their mothers. All lived in dormitories and ate in great communal dining rooms. The food was adequate, but unchanging and as simple as possible, because it was all paid for by the people of the parish.

The objective was to look after those who fell on hard times, but to make work preferable to being in the workhouse. However, the workhouse guaranteed medical care, something the poor could not usually afford, and so the workhouse was actually attractive to those who were ill. As a result, over time, workhouses became places mostly full of the old and ill.

Workhouses are a particular feature of the 19th century because this was a time when there was great change in the countryside, and many farm labourers were put off their farms and had to go to cities to find work. Many could not get work and so had to turn to the workhouse. The work they got was not helpful to them finding jobs. They were made to do things like breaking stones for road mending or crushing bones for fertiliser. No one received any education.

During the 20th century they were gradually phased out.