Knaresborough, Yorkshire
Up to 1834
In 1737, a parish workhouse was established at Knaresborough next to the church. The workhouse inmates wove flax.
Knaresborough site, 1851.
Harrogate and Bilton once shared a workhouse at Land Green Farm near Pannal. This is presumably the establishment at Burn(t) Bridge shown as a poorhouse and school on the 1853 map below.
Burn Bridge site, 1853.
Burnt Bridge former poorhouse, 2008.
© Peter Higginbotham.
In 1810, Harrogate erected its own workhouse at Starbeck, a building now known as Starbeck Hall.
Starbeck Hall, 2000.
© Peter Higginbotham.
Starbeck Hall, 2000.
© Peter Higginbotham.
The parishes of Allerton, Brearton and Dacre shared a workhouse at Scriven which was is said to have occupied the whole of the village green. A label identifying the workhouse can just be made out on the 1853 map shown below.
Scriven, 1853.
After 1834
The formation of new Poor Law Unions in West Yorkshire was severely hindered by the existence of four Gilbert Unions (Barwick, Carlton, Great Ouseburn and Great Preston) whose constitution had made them exempt from the provisions of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. The scattered distribution of these Gilbert Unions cut across the neat pattern of Poor Law Unions proposed by the Poor Law Commissioners as shown on the map below.
Yorkshire Gilbert Unions map, 1838.
© Peter Higginbotham.
It was not until 1850s that the Commissioners' scheme began to take place with the formation of the new Unions of Ripon (1852), Knaresborough (1854), Wharfedale (1861), Wetherby (1861), and Tadcaster (1862).
The new Knaresborough Poor Law Union formally cmae into being on 25th March, 1854. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 27 in number, representing its 21 constituent parishes and townships as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):County of York: Bilton-with-Harrogate (2), Brearton, Burton Leonard, Cayton with South Stainley, Farnham, Felliscliffe, Ferensby [Ferrensby], Flaxby, Follifoot, Goldsborough, Hampsthwaite, Haverah Park, Killinghall, Knaresborough (4), Nidd, Pannal (2), Plumpton [Plompton], Ripley, Scotton, Scriven-with-Tentergate (2), Walkingham Hill with Occaney.
The population falling within the Union at the 1851 census had been 15,473 with parishes ranging in size from Walkingham Hill with Occaney (population 21) to Knaresborough itself (4,879). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1852-4 had been £3,733 or 4s.10d. per head of the population.
Initially, the new union continued to use the existing workhouse at Starbeck.
Starbeck site, 1853.
In 1858, a new union workhouse was built at a site on the east side of Stockwell Road in Knaresborough. It was designed by Isaac Shutt of Harrogate. The site layout is shown on the 1932 map by which time the workhouse was referred to as a Poor Law Institution.
Knaresborough site, 1932.
Knaresborough aerial view from the north-east, c.1990.
The entrance block at the east had a central archway, with a boardroom at the north side, and porter's room and receiving wards at the south. The main block was T-shaped with the Master's quarters at the centre, males' accommodation in the north wing and females' in the south. The dining hall and kitchens lay at the rear centre wing. An infirmary was added to the rear of the workhouse in about 1870.
Knaresborough general view and vagrants' entrance from the north-east, 1989.
© Gary Kirby.
Knaresborough from the north-west, 1989.
© Gary Kirby.
New vagrants' wards were added along the north and south sides of the site in 1870-92.
Knaresborough vagrants' block from the south-east, 1989.
© Gary Kirby.
Knaresborough vagrants' block from the south-west, 1989.
© Gary Kirby.
A second infirmary was added at the north of the site in the 1890s. This became the male infirmary and a female infirmary was erected at the west of the site in around 1905. The original infirmary was converted for use as nurses' quarters, children's nursery, and isolation hospital.
Knaresborough 1896 infirmary from the south, 1989.
© Gary Kirby.
Knaresborough 1896 infirmary from the west, 1989.
© Gary Kirby.
Knaresborough 1896 infirmary from the south, c.1990.
Knaresborough 1905 infirmary from the east, c.1990.
After 1930, administration of the institution passed into the hands of the West Riding County Council and became part of a new Public Assistance district called Claro centred on Knaresborough. A plan of the site at that date is shown below.
Knaresborough site, 1930.
The former Knaresbrorough workhouse became mainly used to provide care for the elderly, with the remaining orphan children being moved to a children's home in Scriven in 1937. The vagrants' wards, however, continued in use until 1950. Under the National Health Service, the site became Knaresborough Hospital. In 1996, the land was redeveloped for housing and all the old buildings have been demolished with the exception of some parts of the perimeter walls.
Knaresborough former workhouse site from the north-east, 2000.
© Peter Higginbotham.
Staff
Inmates
Records
- North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton DL7 8TB. Few local records survive — holdings include: Guardians' minutes (1854-1930); Ledgers (1854-72, 1925-30).
Bibliography
- The Knaresborough Workhouse Daybook (1788-92)s Edited by Maria F Garcia-Bermejo Giner and Michael Montgomery (Yorkshire Dialect Society,2003) Knaresborough and Harrogate Workhouses by Anthony Chadwick (Ripon Museum Trust leaflet, 1996)
- The Harrogate Story by W Haythornthwaite (Dalesman Publishing Company, 1954)
Links
- Ripon Workhouse Museum, Sharow View, Allhallowgate, Ripon HG4 1LE.
Acknowledgment
- Many thanks to Gary Kirby for his photo contributions.
This page () is copyright Peter Higginbotham. Contents may not be reproduced without permission.
