Coach Trip to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, 16 August 2024.
We had a lovely sunny day for our trip to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse near Dereham in Norfolk. On arrival, we were struck by the imposing, large red-brick Georgian building. Just by the main entrance there was a poignant group of statues of a family just about to enter the Workhouse. Fortunately, we learnt that this story had a happy ending: the High family had to go into the workhouse after the death of the mother. The father subsequently found work on the Sandringham Estate where he was given a tied cottage and therefore was able to take his family out of the Workhouse.
There was so much to see on the Gressenhall site: a farm trail with Suffolk punch horses, rare pig breeds, sheep and cattle, woodlands, orchard and riverside walks. There was a chapel, a Village Row, a Victorian school room, laundry, garage, 1950s room, Cherry Tree Cottage and more. The main Workhouse Museum had fascinating displays about the entry into the Workhouse, the food (not much: mostly gruel, bread and cheese), Workhouse routine and punishments. On becoming Workhouse inmates, the men, women and children were separated into different groups which were not allowed to see or talk to each other. Personal possessions were taken away and could be sold to pay for care. The regime was deliberately harsh to deter people from entering the Workhouse. The displays in the Museum were very life-like: plates with descriptions of the little food they ate and thin mattresses on iron beds, life-like projections on the walls told of the hardships endured in the Workhouse.
We had an excellent talk and guided tour by a retired teacher whose father and grandfather had been in Gressenhall Workhouse. She gave us some background to the development of the Workhouse: after the Dissolution of the Monasteries there was less care available for the poor, this was even worse after the Enclosures Act when it was more difficult for men to find work. Gressenhall was originally built as a House of Industry in 1777 where conditions were more compassionate – families were not separated, and the occupants were allowed to do work such as spinning and weaving and were even paid a small amount. In 1836 Gressenhall became a Workhouse. Our tour guide pointed out that there were a few positives in the Workhouse: the children were given an education and their health needs were attended to. She told us that in 1845, some children from the Workhouse had gone on to become carpenters, printers, school masters and some had entered gentlemen’s service. One heartening story was that one of the governors, Mr Keppel, had paid for a one-armed boy to have art lessons and the boy had subsequently gone on to have a successful career in pottery design.
We only managed to see a fraction of the Gressenhall Estate so we are eager to return – a very educational and interesting outing.
Clare.
