Poverty, crime and mental ill-health are not usually associated with the English countryside, at least in the idyllic view offered by the tourism industry. But these are some of the subjects addressed at Voices from the Workhouse, a series of galleries that opened earlier this year at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, a 50-acre site run by Norfolk Museums.
Voices from the Workhouse tells two main stories: the experiences of those who lived and worked on the site, and a wider narrative about the development of workhouses across the UK. The £1.8m project – which included nearly £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund – aims to make Gressenhall a national centre for workhouse research and interpretation.
Gressenhall, a Grade II-listed building, was built in 1776 by local parishes as a “house of industry” for the poor. Following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the building became part of a network of workhouses governed by a national set of rules and regulations. Gressenhall remained a workhouse until 1948; it then became a home for the elderly before opening as a museum in 1976. The redevelopment includes displays about the building’s time as a residential care home, which feature some of the residents who stayed on after the workhouse was closed down.
The Voices from the Workhouse galleries use original accounts – many found in the workhouse archives by a team of staff and volunteers – to tell the stories of a few of the people who lived and worked there. These are combined with a range of original artefacts and reproductions to give a flavour of what life was like in the institution.
There are plenty of things for visitors to see at Gressenhall in addition to Voices from the Workhouse, including the Museum of Norfolk Life, a traditional farm with rare-breed animals and extensive grounds. All this creates a number of wayfinding challenges, but Voices from the Workhouse is well signposted for visitors, with lifesize figures standing outside the entrance. Again, these figures are based on real people, and more of them feature in the displays.
Bringing the past to life
Once inside, the first thing visitors see is an audiovisual display – a porter in period costume greeting them as though they are about to be admitted to the workhouse as inmates. Families would be divided, with men going one way and women and children another: visitors are encouraged to follow suit.
Opposite the audiovisual of the porter is a scrolling display featuring extracts from the register of all the residents who stayed at Gressenhall. This information is also available in printed form, an example of the mix of interpretive material that occurs throughout the displays. The displays are set against whitewashed walls that look as they would have during the building’s time as a workhouse.
Just inside the next space is a bath with quotes about workhouses projected onto its surface. This area also provides the first chance to dress up in old-fashioned clothes.
Stories of people who lived and worked at Gressenhall are peppered throughout the galleries. Alongside first-hand accounts of life in the workhouse, the interpretation asks visitors to think about how we deal with poverty today, encouraging them to reflect on debates about issues such as austerity, welfare and social justice. A section looking at the board of guardians who ran the workhouse asks: “How do we look after vulnerable people today? Whose responsibility is it? Do we rely too much on the government? What could you do to help?”
Later on in the galleries there is a space for contemporary media reports about poverty. When I was visiting, this included an article from The Guardian newspaper with the headline: “Mike Ashley running Sports Direct like ‘Victorian Workhouse’” – museum staff must have jumped at that.
At its height, the workhouse at Gressenhall housed about 600 people. Over time, the regime, quite enlightened at first, became stricter. Harsh conditions were deliberate – the workhouse was meant to be a place of last resort. Personal possessions were taken away and often sold to pay for the care of the residents.
New perspective
Still, workhouses provided a valuable safety net for those in dire need, offering food, a bed and free healthcare, and even finding trades for young people. Some of the interpretation reflects this more positive side of workhouses, dispelling some misconceptions people might hold.
Though they were grim institutions, the truth about them is more complex. Despite the fact that the people were described as inmates, these institutions were not prisons, and people were free to leave. At the start of the section about entering the workhouse, visitors are told: “The workhouse was surrounded by high walls. These were here to keep people out, not in.”
But, reflecting the Victorians’ judgemental view of poverty, later in the displays we find out that single mothers at Gressenhall were, until the 1860s, made to wear a special jacket as a “mark of their disgrace”. They were considered a bad influence and kept apart from other inmates.
One of the workhouse inmates that visitors meet is Harriet Kettle who, according to a report in the Norfolk Chronicle in 1860, was found “beating the assistant matron in the dining hall”. Punished as a result, Kettle “then declared she would burn down the bloody building,” the workhouse master reported to the newspaper.
In the same room visitors also hear about Herbert Leslie Norton, a first world war veteran whose unsuccessful attempt to re-enter the workhouse, after losing his job as a cook’s mate for the railways, ended in tragedy.
Meeting these “real” characters, often through audiovisual projections, is an excellent way of learning the story of Gressenhall. The displays are very evocative, although highlighting more of the smells and sounds of the workhouse would perhaps make the portrayal of living conditions more vivid; but it is not easy to convey misery and suffering in a museum setting aimed at families.
Overall, Norfolk Museums should be applauded for this ambitious project, which addresses questions such as how we should care for the vulnerable, treat the poor, and fund welfare. Invaluably, the displays at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse look to the past to examine important issues today.
Main funders Heritage Lottery Fund £1.47m; DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund £150,000; Arts Council England £310,000; Breckland District Council £20,000; Friends of Gressenhall £20,000; Arts Council England/Prism £5,000
Exhibition design Bright 3D
Fit-out Elmwood
Digital content and app Digital Opportunities
Lead curator Megan Dennis
Admission Adult £11.50; Concession £11 (visitors with disability, unwaged, over 65s or in full time education); 4-18 year olds £9.80; MA members free
Voices from the Workhouse tells two main stories: the experiences of those who lived and worked on the site, and a wider narrative about the development of workhouses across the UK. The £1.8m project – which included nearly £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund – aims to make Gressenhall a national centre for workhouse research and interpretation.
Gressenhall, a Grade II-listed building, was built in 1776 by local parishes as a “house of industry” for the poor. Following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the building became part of a network of workhouses governed by a national set of rules and regulations. Gressenhall remained a workhouse until 1948; it then became a home for the elderly before opening as a museum in 1976. The redevelopment includes displays about the building’s time as a residential care home, which feature some of the residents who stayed on after the workhouse was closed down.
The Voices from the Workhouse galleries use original accounts – many found in the workhouse archives by a team of staff and volunteers – to tell the stories of a few of the people who lived and worked there. These are combined with a range of original artefacts and reproductions to give a flavour of what life was like in the institution.
There are plenty of things for visitors to see at Gressenhall in addition to Voices from the Workhouse, including the Museum of Norfolk Life, a traditional farm with rare-breed animals and extensive grounds. All this creates a number of wayfinding challenges, but Voices from the Workhouse is well signposted for visitors, with lifesize figures standing outside the entrance. Again, these figures are based on real people, and more of them feature in the displays.
Bringing the past to life
Once inside, the first thing visitors see is an audiovisual display – a porter in period costume greeting them as though they are about to be admitted to the workhouse as inmates. Families would be divided, with men going one way and women and children another: visitors are encouraged to follow suit.
Opposite the audiovisual of the porter is a scrolling display featuring extracts from the register of all the residents who stayed at Gressenhall. This information is also available in printed form, an example of the mix of interpretive material that occurs throughout the displays. The displays are set against whitewashed walls that look as they would have during the building’s time as a workhouse.
Just inside the next space is a bath with quotes about workhouses projected onto its surface. This area also provides the first chance to dress up in old-fashioned clothes.
Stories of people who lived and worked at Gressenhall are peppered throughout the galleries. Alongside first-hand accounts of life in the workhouse, the interpretation asks visitors to think about how we deal with poverty today, encouraging them to reflect on debates about issues such as austerity, welfare and social justice. A section looking at the board of guardians who ran the workhouse asks: “How do we look after vulnerable people today? Whose responsibility is it? Do we rely too much on the government? What could you do to help?”
Later on in the galleries there is a space for contemporary media reports about poverty. When I was visiting, this included an article from The Guardian newspaper with the headline: “Mike Ashley running Sports Direct like ‘Victorian Workhouse’” – museum staff must have jumped at that.
At its height, the workhouse at Gressenhall housed about 600 people. Over time, the regime, quite enlightened at first, became stricter. Harsh conditions were deliberate – the workhouse was meant to be a place of last resort. Personal possessions were taken away and often sold to pay for the care of the residents.
New perspective
Still, workhouses provided a valuable safety net for those in dire need, offering food, a bed and free healthcare, and even finding trades for young people. Some of the interpretation reflects this more positive side of workhouses, dispelling some misconceptions people might hold.
Though they were grim institutions, the truth about them is more complex. Despite the fact that the people were described as inmates, these institutions were not prisons, and people were free to leave. At the start of the section about entering the workhouse, visitors are told: “The workhouse was surrounded by high walls. These were here to keep people out, not in.”
But, reflecting the Victorians’ judgemental view of poverty, later in the displays we find out that single mothers at Gressenhall were, until the 1860s, made to wear a special jacket as a “mark of their disgrace”. They were considered a bad influence and kept apart from other inmates.
One of the workhouse inmates that visitors meet is Harriet Kettle who, according to a report in the Norfolk Chronicle in 1860, was found “beating the assistant matron in the dining hall”. Punished as a result, Kettle “then declared she would burn down the bloody building,” the workhouse master reported to the newspaper.
In the same room visitors also hear about Herbert Leslie Norton, a first world war veteran whose unsuccessful attempt to re-enter the workhouse, after losing his job as a cook’s mate for the railways, ended in tragedy.
Meeting these “real” characters, often through audiovisual projections, is an excellent way of learning the story of Gressenhall. The displays are very evocative, although highlighting more of the smells and sounds of the workhouse would perhaps make the portrayal of living conditions more vivid; but it is not easy to convey misery and suffering in a museum setting aimed at families.
Overall, Norfolk Museums should be applauded for this ambitious project, which addresses questions such as how we should care for the vulnerable, treat the poor, and fund welfare. Invaluably, the displays at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse look to the past to examine important issues today.
Project data
Cost £1.86mMain funders Heritage Lottery Fund £1.47m; DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund £150,000; Arts Council England £310,000; Breckland District Council £20,000; Friends of Gressenhall £20,000; Arts Council England/Prism £5,000
Exhibition design Bright 3D
Fit-out Elmwood
Digital content and app Digital Opportunities
Lead curator Megan Dennis
Admission Adult £11.50; Concession £11 (visitors with disability, unwaged, over 65s or in full time education); 4-18 year olds £9.80; MA members free
