Gressenhall Workhouse Timeline
1250 William de Stuteville, Lord of the Manor of Gressendale constructs the Chapel of St Nicholas in the area known as Rougham in the parish.
1550 The Chapel of St Nicholas is dissolved the building becoming Chapel Farm.
1774 A petition for an Act of Parliament to build a House of Industry presented.
1775 Act of Parliament 15 George III C59 ‘for the better relief and Employment of the Poor within the Hundreds of Mitford and Launditch in the County of Norfolk.’
7 July 1777 Mitford and Launditch Corporation House of Industry opened.
1781 Post windmill built.
1785 Burial ground consecrated.
1825 Stock and implements sold off the farm and it becomes tenanted.
1834 1/6 of the inmates die of Cholera and Scarlet fever.
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act 4 & % William IV c76 ‘An Act for the amendment and better administration of the laws relating to the poor in England and Wales.’
May 1836 Mitford and Launditch Poor Law Union formed.
1836 Conversion of House of Industry to Union Workhouse begins.
September 1836 Windmill and stock sold.
1837 William Rush age 13 takes charge of school during Schoolmasters illness later becomes the first Pupil Teacher.
1846 Old Brew house demolished and new Wash Room and Laundry built in Able Bodied Women’s Yard.
1847 Poor Law Commission replaced by Poor Law Board.
1851 ‘Mill Piece’ (now Centenary Wood) becomes the Industrial farm for training the boys and girls in farming.
1853 Accommodation for ‘respectable elderly married couple’ built, becomes ‘Cherry Tree’ Cottage.
1854 Practice of oakum picking for able bodied introduced.
1866 Practice of making Unmarried mothers wears a ‘distinctive dress’, ‘Jacket Women’ ceases. Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Gressenhall, Dereham, Norfolk NR20 4DR 01362 860563 [email protected] www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/gressenhall
1868 Chapel built. Designed by R M Pinson and opened by the Bishop of Norwich.
1871 East Wing converted into the Infirmary and the Fever and Isolation Ward is built.
1884 Children sent to Gressenhall Parish School.
1887 Workhouse school reopened. And children return from the parish school.
1899 Workhouse school finally closed. Boys are sent to Gressenhall School and the girls to Beetley School.
1901 Installation of boilers for heating and steam powered Laundry.
1913 Telephone installed at workhouse.
1914 ‘Hollies’ Theatre Street, Dereham becomes the Children’s Home.
1917 50 German prisoners of war are accommodated in the East Wing.
1919 German POWs repatriated to Germany.
1919 Register General refuses to write workhouse on Birth or Death Certificate. Gressenhall becomes ‘Beech House’ or ‘Beech Hill’.
1925 Oakum picking ceases as a task for able bodied inmates.
1928 15 Norwich Road becomes Children’s Home, later called ‘Garfield House’.
1930 Taken over by County Council becomes Gressenhall Poor Assistance Institution.
1932 Electricity supplied to workhouse.
October 1946 Gressenhall Poor Assistance Institution becomes ‘Beech House’ Gressenhall.
1948 National Assistance Act finally closes workhouses. Gressenhall becomes ‘Beech House’ a County Home for the Elderly.
June 1974 Half the residents move to ‘Glaven Hale’, Holt.
January 1975 Remaining residents move to Huntingfields, Costessey.
February 1975 Beech House closes, and the building is taken over by Norfolk Museums Service becomes the Norfolk Rural life Museum.
1975 Friends of Gressenhall formed.
Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, Gressenhall, Dereham, Norfolk NR20 4DR 01362 860563 [email protected] www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/gressenhall