Following the High Country History Group’s recent visit to the Records Office at Wharf Road, Chelmsford, I received a list of Essex Records Office events, one of which was an opportunity to view the only complete set of plans in existence for a workhouse in Essex, those of the Epping Union Workhouse. Having spent eight years employed in the administrative offices of St. Margaret’s Hospital housed in the workhouse, these plans were of particular interest to me.
The Epping Union Workhouse was a good example of the type of complex built for relief of the poor. The Poor Laws have been in existence since Elizabethan times when it was the responsibility of each parish to provide them with outdoor relief. From 1601 small parish workhouses were erected as an alternative. People unable to find work were set menial tasks in return for food and shelter. However this did not deter the able-bodied from seeking relief and as numbers and costs increased more drastic measures were considered, culminating in the introduction in 1834 of the Poor Law Amendment Act. Under this new Poor Law well regulated Union Workhouses were built serving several Parishes. At this time there was harsh discipline and segregation of the inmates. The Epping Union Workhouse was designed by Lewis Vulliamy and was built in 1838 at the northern end of Epping Town and within the Parish of Theydon Garnon It was built of red brick with a slate roof En 1896 boundary changes placed it in the new Parish and Urban District of Epping.
The original plans of 1838 show the Workhouse to consist of two parallel ranges with cross-wings and a central projecting range, these buildings being of three-storeys and housing inmates in dormitories separated by their gender and social class. Spanning from each side of the central projection were a group of single-storey buildings - the cookhouse, bakehouse and stores. A few of these buildings still existed up until recently. Behind the three storeys were more low buildings creating an enclosure of four separate yards used for the segregation of men, women, boys and girls during recreation. These were divided by walls with a central tower where the Master was able to monitor all activity within the yards. Detached from this block was the washhouse and sewing room. By the mid-19th century the corrupting influence of adult paupers on workhouse children was causing concern and detached industrial schools were erected to prepare children for adult life. These were a disaster, disease was rife and children mal-adjusted These schools were replaced by cottage homes.
In 1882 a third parallel range of three storeys was added to the Workhouse. It is believed that this was the isolation infirmary. Lavatory and ablution arrangements were shared with other inmates in the Workhouse. Water pressure was insufficient for the upper floors so this was supplemented by the hydrant point and also the well which ran dry in the summer months. There were inadequate drainage and sanitary arrangements. The babies in the Nursery were bathed in the kitchens and there were no lavatories at all in the Nursery. The kitchens had no refrigerators-
Poor Laws were disbanded in 1929 when their role was transferred to Borough and District Councils. The Epping Workhouse continued in use after 1930 as a Public Assistance Institution, being renamed St. Margaret’s Hospital in September 1938 and afterwards in July 1948 it became an NHS Hospital. The original Workhouse building housed the Hospital administration offices until these moved out in mid 1998. The front projection of the building became the Porter’s Lodge and Hospital switchboard.
Also housed in the workhouse area were the kitchens serving the whole Hospital, the Catering Department, the cleaning contractors, the linen services, the medical photographers and darkroom, the Pharmacy, the Voluntary Services Organizer and a restroom for gardening staff. The original boiler houses were demolished and new boiler rooms erected. Some of the medical staff were accommodated in the workhouse and geriatric patients were housed in Forest Wing (the third parallel range to be erected). Nursing staff were the jurisdiction of the Matron and initially they lived in the infirmary building erected on the site in 1913. Later this became the Medical Library and Post Graduate Medical Centre. It is now known as Birchwood House and its use has changed. The original wash house of the workhouse still stands as in 1989 this received Grade II listing. It accommodates the current Hospital laundry with the original attached single-storey buildings in use as linen stores. The Nursery building also remains, along with a few other single-storey buildings.
Until recently Essex had retained a large number of its workhouses. St. Margaret’s Hospital was still buzzing with activity in its heyday in the 1960’s and 197G’s. This was the time the new Out-patients building was erected, the Hospital expanded and the majority of the workhouse area was in use. Now with modern health reforms the old buildings are surplus to requirements, and in this Millennium the Epping Union Workhouse was demolished in stages.
Forest Wing was the first to go, closely followed by the main institution. The rustic bricks and the huge workhouse bell-tower which topped the building were sold. Occurring simultaneously with the demolition of the Epping Workhouse, was the demolition of the Workhouse at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford. This was the only workhouse remaining in Essex constructed to a cruciform plan. A campaign to save it was launched, but it was argued that the interior of the building had changed so much that it was not worth saving.