Social History
Meetings at the car park opposite Victoria Hall Ash Hill Road 13.00pm
From 14.00pm
Spike Heritage Centre
Warren Road Guildford GU1 3JH
http://www.guildfordspike.co.uk/
Cost: £5
An image from the year 1906
Welcome to the Spike
On the periphery of Guildford, the Guildford Union Workhouse stands as a testament to the current welfare system. Built in 1838 as a result of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, it houses the forgotten classes of Edwardian England – the poor, the infirm, the ill and the destitute.
In 1905, building work began to construct a purpose built Casuals’ Ward to separate the ‘undesirable’ vagrants and their disruptive influence from the structured routine of the main Workhouse and its inmates. With their filthy clothes, crude language and coarse behaviour, they live a lonely, miserable existence, but for a vagrant in 1906, it’s a way of life.........
If you would like to join the visit, please email with your name and whether you need a seat in a car, or if you intend to drive, state if you can take a passenger(s). Entrance fee is £5.00 payable on the day. (members already stated they are coming will not need to email)
