An insight into the gruelling conditions of the Victorian workhouse, an early step on the road to the British welfare state.
Whether it was 'the batille', 'the spike', 'the work'us' or simply 'the house', the Victorian workhouse was the cause of dread and shame for thousands of men, women and children.
This brief introduction looks at the principles that lay behind the New Poor Law of 1834, at the design and construction of workhouses, and at the lives of those who entered them.