Subject Index: Workhouses & Poverty Laws

The content on this site is put into subject categories. These pages list content filed under each subject. You can also use the Tag Index to see a full list of keywords used on the site.

100 Fishponds Road

Life and death in a Victorian workhouse

transparent fiddle Not A BRHG Event
The Kingfisher Cafe, 8 Straits Parade, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 2LE In 2012 some radical historians poring over old maps came across a disused burial ground at Rosemary Green close to the site of Eastville Workhouse at 100 Fishponds Rd. Over the following years a team of local researchers revealed that more than 4,000 men, women and children, inmates of Eastville Workhouse, were interred in unmarked graves in Rosemary Green from 1851-1895. Eastville Workhouse, constructed by Clifton Poor Law […]

Life and Death in two Victorian Workhouses

transparent fiddle Not A BRHG Event
Downed Local History Society. Downend Folk House, Lincombe Barn, Overndale Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 2RW Bedminster: the true story of how the local community pulled together to uncover murder in the workhouse. Eastville: The history of life death and burial at 100 Fishponds road. Both speakers are from the Bristol Radical History group

Plaque to mark Eastville Workhouse at 100 Fishponds Rd

100 Fishponds Rd, Pedestrian Entrance to East Trees Health Centre, Bristol BS5 6BF As part of the ongoing Eastville Workhouse history project a cast aluminium, painted plaque by local artist Mike Baker will be unveiled on the surviving gates to the workhouse at 100 Fishponds Rd. Over eighty years thousands of men, women and children passed through these gates, driven by poverty, great age or ill-health. Families were separated, endured hard labour and a punitive regime. The plaque shows a relief […]

The Eastville Workhouse Memorials

100 Fishponds Road
Where am I? You are on the site of Eastville Workhouse, which opened its doors in 1847. In the 1930s it became an old people's home and was finally demolished in 1972. This page is about the three memorials which are part of the Eastville Workhouse Project. Eastville Workhouse Plaque The plaque is situated on what is now the pedestrian entrance to East Trees Health Centre. This was the entrance to the driveway that led up to the main workhouse buildings. The new medical center was opened in […]

The Life and Death of Hannah Wiltshire

A Case Study of Bedminster Union Workhouse and Victorian Social Attitudes on Epilepsy

HAnnah Wiltshire Front Cover
During the year of 1855 rumours of murder and cover up were circulating in the small north Somerset village of Walton-in-Gordano. An epileptic destitute country girl had died in the local institution known as the Bedminster Union Workhouse. Her death caused public outrage after letters were written to the local newspapers. The Board of Guardians were suspected of concealing the true magnitude of neglect at the workhouse, leading to accusations of medical negligence. In this pamphlet, Victorian […]

Some reaction to today’s memorial unveiling

transparent fiddle Some reaction to today’s memorial unveiling
Download the programme from the unveiling ceremony. The BBC put an article on their website: Eastville Workhouse's 'forgotten paupers' memorial unveiled. Beautiful, moving memorial this morning on Rosemary green, for 4000 men, woman & children buried in unmarked graves. pic.twitter.com/SP6jvzHK6R — Hannahbella Nel (@Hannahbellaaaa) November 16, 2015 A follow up on our story with @BrisRadHis about unmarked paupers' graves: pic.twitter.com/DeWhWHodIq — BBC Inside Out West (@InsideOutWest) […]

100 Fishponds Rd.

Life and Death in a Victorian Workhouse

100 Fishponds Road Front Cover of 3rd Edition
In 2012, radical historians poring over old maps of east Bristol discovered a disused burial ground at Rosemary Green, close to the site of Eastville Workhouse. Over the following years, a team of local researchers revealed that in the nineteenth century more than 4,000 men, women and children from the workhouse had been interred in unmarked graves. Built in 1847 as a result of the New Poor Law, Eastville Workhouse was the largest in the Bristol area housing over a thousand inmates. 100 […]

Pin It on Pinterest