Norfolk: Poor Law

Tunstead and Happing Incorporation 1785-1869

Incorporation history

• 1785 - Tunstead and Happing Incorporation was formed by an Act of Parliament.
• House of Industry was in Workhouse Road (off Union Road), Smallburgh, NR12 9NJ, [Map reference is TG326243].
• 1834 - Incorporation status kept.
• Description is in Whites 1845 directory
• 1851 and 1861 Census - List of people in the Workhouse. See the Smallburgh parish page.
• 1869 Sept. - Became Smallburgh Union.

Before 1785 some of these parishes marked had their own Work or Parish House (WkHse) as shown.

Poor Law Records - Images

Online images of some poor law registers, admissions books etc. from 1796 to 1900 are available at the

• LDS familysearch website https://www.familysearch.org/ (UK+Ireland records section)

1. Go down the "Historical Record Collections"
2. Select Title - "England, Norfolk Poor Law Union Records, 1796-1900"
3. Select "Browse through xxx images"
4. Under County pick - "Norfolk"
5. Under Poor Law Union select the "Required Union"
6. Records are under headings such as "District, Workhouse & Unknown etc."
7. Alternatively use a search engine for "familysearch" "Norfolk Poor Law Union Records"

Other Websites

Acts, descriptions, maps, some pictures etc. can be found at :-
                www.workhouses.org.uk (The Story of Workhouses).

Further information can be found:

• about locations in the Towns and Parishes pages.
• about which hundred a parish occurs in.

See also the Poor Law page and the Post 1834 Unions page

These pages are for personal use only. They may not be copied, and the links within them may not be harvested for use on your own web pages. Please see the Copyright Notice.

Copyright © Mike Bristow.
November 2011