The Wormingford
Workhouse
In compliance with
the Poor Law Act 1601 a workhouse was built on waste ground
on the Upper Road; and fitted with spinning wheels and a stock
of hemp, flax and wool, that the poor and impotent of the parish
might be employed.
The workhouse had fifteen rooms including a buttery, a coal
house, spin house and eleven apartments for indigent paupers.
Two ratepayers were
sworn in every year as Overseers of the Poor. The duty was unpaid
and compulsory upon the substantial householders of the village.
They appointed the Workhouse Master
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In 1765 and 1766 extensive work
was carried out on the town house and parish house, perhaps both names
for the workhouse
The Black House is also mentioned, possibly The Workhouse,
In 1776:- the workhouse master
was paid 20s a week for 13 inmates, from which he was to provide food,
lodging, and clothing; he could take earnings from any who went out
to work.
1777:- William Rose - "agrees
to take the poor of Wormingford under my care for the yearly sallery
of £2. Small-pocks, Midwifery and fractures included"
From 1778 William Rose agreed
to pay doctor's fees, except for smallpox and fractures.
1780:- Destitute children were cared for and placed in jobs.
The girls as servants to neighbouring farmhouses, cripple boys were
apprenticed to cobblers and others to the Colchester Oyster Dredgers.
The latter not always welcomed by the boys.
Here is a letter presumably from one
of the employers of a boy who had absconded:+
"Sirs, I write to inform you that John Townsend left me last
Wednesday night and I expect he is come home placing himself in the
worst situation possible by pulling off his working clothes and pulling
on them he had never had on before since he was bound and if he is I
hope you will not encourage him but send him home with a note of any
complaint"
John Fleming. Brightlingsea.
1789 and 1798:- Numbers in the
workhouse ranged from 13 to 19,
Provisions included brandy and brimstone in 1790, beer and sugar for
the old people in 1791,
In 1795 the workhouse master was
allowed 1s. 9d. a head
1799 and 1808: numbers ranged
from 18 to 25.
1799:- A later agreement indicates
an interest in education.. Thomas Leggett ". . . agree that
the Parish to have the use of the great room, called the barn, every
Sunday to keep school for poor children."
Three spinning wheels bought in 1801
formed part of the total of 11 in 1802, and although 4 more were
bought in 1815 and 6 in 1818, none was listed in the spinhouse
in 1825. There was a pig sty in 1802
1809 and 1814. Numbers increased
from 5 to 13
1811 and 1813; allowance rose
to 4s. a head
1811:- A straightjacket was purchased
1814:- Old and infirm persons often had their goods sold up to
pay off their debts and were then boarded out at the expense of the
Parish.
Inventory of Goods of Samuel . . . For rent dew £2,15s,0d.
In Keeping Room
2 towels. 3 chares. 1 Harm ditto. 1 Kneading Trought. In Kitchen
Hedge form. 1 pale. 1 boyler. Up Stayers.
1 Featherbed. Bed stradles and hangings. 1 Bolster. 2 pillows. 1 pare
of sheets. 1 Blanket.
The Flannel Act was passed by Charles
II to help the woollen trade and a wit wrote: Since the living could
not bear it, they should be forced when dead to wear it.
Certificate of Hannah Laysell: "Maketh oath that Susan of ye
said parish lately deceased was not wrapped up or buried in anything
but was made of sheep's wool only according to Act of Parliament for
burying in Woollen'"
1815 and 1816:- Pork, cheese,
potatoes, onions, flour, mutton, bacon, cabbage, milk, oatmeal, green
tobacco, and beer were issued
1837. Wormingford Workhouse was closed and the old people were
sent to a large one on the outskirts of Colchester, built for the Lexden
and Winstree Union. The 'Union' was regarded with fear and dread and
there were some terrible scenes when an old person was carried to it
in a farm waggon, only to return a few months later in a white wood
pauper coffin.
The Old Workhouse, a two storey Tudor beam and plaster building with
a three storey extension of tarred wood, was sold and converted into
four dwellings.
William Fowler, carrier and postman,
lived in the two storey end house and it became the first Post Office.
His widow married a Mr Death who with another man were the last two
to be transported to Botany Bay. Ostentatiously for sheep-stealing but:
-
A group of workmen struck for more pay, tenpence a day instead of ninepence,
when working on a hill on the Colchester Road. The two men who were
deported were the leaders of the strike. The hill is still known as
Tenpenny Hill.
Death's wife, known as Mrs Fowler-Death
was allowed to continue as Post Mistress
Reference:-
(1) Wormingford by Winifred Beaumont
(2) "The Victoria History of the Counties (Essex) of England, Vol
X" by the University of London.
