Clun, Shropshire

[Up to 1834] [After 1834] [Staff] [Inmates] [Records] [Bibliography] [Links]

Up to 1834

Eden, in his 1797 survey of the poor in England, reported of Bishop's Castle that:

The Poor have generally been, and are now, farmed in a Workhouse. The contractor has £105 a year to feed and clothe them and defray all other expenses, except appeals. Owing to the high prices of provisions the parish gave him £5 last half-year. 14 paupers, chiefly old, infirm and insane, are in the house. Those who can work are employed in spinning lint or other common work, according to their age and abilities. The contractor has 11 or 12 out-pensioners, who receive 6d. to 1s. a week, and a bastard at 1s. 6d. He also pays several house rents. His rule is not to allow more than 1s. a week to each family of out-pensioners, and if that sum does not satisfy them he requires them to come into the house. It is not supposed that he can support them at a cheaper rate in the house, but a reluctance to enter it often induces a poor family to acquiesce in a very small out allowance. It is believed that if the Poor were not farmed the rates would be much higher than they are.
   Table of diet in the Workhouse: Breakfast—every day, broth, or milk and water gruel. Dinner—Sunday, Wednesday, hot meat and vegetables; other days, cold meat and vegetables. Supper—every day, same as at breakfast. No bread is allowed at dinner. Sometimes potatoes and milk are served for supper. The matron always gives each person a little bread and cheese after breakfast. The house is kept pretty clean: of 10 beds 6 are stuffed with feathers and 4 with chaff. Both beds and bedclothes are very old, A committee of 12 gentlemen visit the Workhouse very regularly. The rates have varied from 1s. in the pound on the full rental to 1s. 4½d. since 1691 (in 1795, 1s. 2d.). The Poor in the hamlet are relieved at their own houses. 20 regular pensioners receive 31s. a week. Some have casual relief, and several have their rents paid by the hamlet. The rates were, in 1795, 1s. 2d. in the pound.

After 1834

The Clun Poor Law Union formally came into being on 18th July 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 21 in number, representing its 19 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

County of Salop: Bishop's Castle borough (2), Bishop's Castle parish, Clun (2), Clunbury, Clungunford, Edgton, Hopesay, Hopton Castle, Lydbury North, Lydham, Mainstone, More, Myndtown, Norbury, Ratlinghope, Shelve, Wentnor.
Counties of Salop and Montgomery: Hyssington.
County of Montgomery: Snead.
Later Additions: Dinmore (1862-84), Hill End (1862-84), Horderley Hall (1862-84), Mucklewick (c.1837), Old Church Moor (1862-84).

The population falling within the union at the 1831 census had been 9,870 with parishes ranging in size from Myndtown (population 36) to Clun itself (1,996). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1834-36 had been £4,155 or 8s.5d. per head of the population.

The new Clun Union appears initially made to have made use of former parish workhouse accommodation on Church Street in Bishop's Castle. In 1842, William and Ann Robertson were the governor and matron.

A new Clun Union workhouse was erected on Union Street in Bishop's Castle in 1842-4. Designed by JH Whitling and Edward Haycock, it cost £3,845 and could accommodate 150 inmates. The workhouse location and layout are shown on the 1924 map below by which time the workhouse was officially know as Clun Poor Law Institution:

Clun workhouse site, 1924

Based on the popular cruciform layout, it had an entrance block at the east which rose to two storeys at the centre. To the rear, the accommodation ranges for the various classes of inmate radiated from the octagonal hub. The north and south ranges had cross-wings at their far ends. A separate isolation hospital was erected the north-west of the main workhouse.

The former workhouse later became a hospital known as Stone House. The workhouse buildings have now been demolished and replaced by a residential care home for the elderly.

Clun former workhouse site from the east, 2001.
© Peter Higginbotham.

Staff

Inmates

Records

  • Shropshire Archives, Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 2AQ. Please note that records may contain gaps or have access restrictions - please check before visiting. Holdings include Guardians' minute books (1844-1927); Register of inmates (1928-45); Births register (1866-1939); Deaths (1866-1951); Creed register (1914-30); Pauper children discharged to service (1886-7); etc.

Bibliography

  • None.

Links

  • None.

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