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Walker Street - Parish Workhouse
The Parish Workhouse
The Library in Walker Street originally formed part of Wellington's Victorian Workhouse, which was situated here until 1876, when a brewery was opened on the site. The Workhouse was essentially an institution maintained by public money where paupers would go, in theory at least, to do unpaid work in return for food and accommodation. At the beginning of the Victorian period, conditions in each establishment were meant to act as a deterrent to potential inmates, but in practice this proved difficult to implement as many of the residents were either too sick or old to do any work or find employment elsewhere and ended up living in the institution permanently.
When the Walker Street institution first opened, in 1797, a Vestry Committee of the local parish church, who also maintained a separate facility for children in the nearby village of Waters Upton, managed it. The Committee employed a Master and Matron to run the Workhouse and sat every fortnight to consider applications for relief. At that time, many of the applicants were given financial aid rather than being forced to enter the workhouse itself, as the volume of requests for relief was often linked to unemployment caused by downturns in local Industries. Although the Workhouse was capable of holding 160 residents, it rarely appears to have been full and, in 1834, there were only 40 residents living in the institution, none of whom were classed as being 'able-bodied'.