Many years ago I did a demographic study of the Battle Workhouse as a university project.
It was built in 1840 in Mr Knight's stone quarry, so presumably that is where most of the materials came from. The most unusual thing about it however, was that it appeared to be unlike other institutions of the time and actually cared for the destitute inmates. It was not as small as you imagine though (you may have inadvertantly confused it with the Battle House of Correction) for a high percentage of the labouring population lived there during the four winter months (450-500 Winter 1841) and between 30-80 people the whole year. The famine of 1847 also saw a further rise in the number of inmates (338). There were 211 inmates there in 1851 but this dropped to 115 by the time of the 1851 census. The lowest occupancy was during havesting months when only those totally incapable of work received parish relief.
Roy G
(Dont forget to also look at the Ashburnham Papers at ESRO when you do any background research.)