Geograph - photograph every grid square

The workhouse was built to a double-cruciform plan in 1836 to accommodate 250 inmates, by the then County surveyor John Brown, in a valley so as not to offend the local squire's view, using bricks made at the local brickyard. The centre 3-storey block (depicted here) housed the Guardian's board room, a waiting room and the Master's quarters, with laundry and kitchens at the rear > Link. On each side, the wing nearest the centre contained a dining hall for the inmates. There was a school room and a nursery in the western-most wing > Link.

During WW1, part of the workhouse became a VAD Hospital (opened 2 October 1915 - closed in February 1919) with room for 36 patients, presumably in one of the wings, since the workhouse on average only ever accommodated between 60 and 70 inmates. Some 663 patients are documented to have been treated there.

After 1948, the building became part of the National Health Service and was known as the Vale Hospital, providing care for mentally ill elderly people. In 1984, the building was converted to residential use.