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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Northamptonshire => England => Northamptonshire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: sarah1952 on Monday 19 December 16 15:02 GMT (UK)
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I am trying to confirm whether or not there was a small workhouse in Harringworth village prior to the poor law act. 1841 census stated about 6 elderly ladies as paupers. I understand there was one up stairs next door to the White Swan that held about 8, but no written proof it was supposed to be in late 1700's then when uppingham opened the village applied for removal orders?? What are they.
I hope someone out there can help
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I think most villages had somewhere for paupers to be housed, prior to 1836, but it may not have been a formal "workhouse". And there's not usually any records.
Some parishes have Vestry records, which may contain references to whatever was classed as a "workhouse" or "the House", but a look at the Northants Record Office catalogue isn't showing me any for Harringworth.
Once the big district workhouses arrived in about 1836, everything got a lot more formal, and the local Guardians of the Poor who ran the Workhouse had to ensure that the expenses for paupers in their care were allocated to the correct parish - no-one wanted to pay for another parish's paupers! The more paupers there were, the higher the Poor Rate everyone had to pay.
That may explain why there were suddenly removal orders - returning paupers to their place of settlement. Or it may be just that the record keeping was better, or more records have survived.
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Harringworth has a village archivist called Sarah Chambers,she might know?
http://harringworthvillage.org/welcome-to-harringworth/harringworth-shotley/a-history-of-harringworth-shotley/
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I am the village Archivist Sarah1952 Aka Sarah chambers as you can see still researching the village ready for a talk and walk in June 2017.