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Norfolk: Poor Law after 1834 Act

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Walsingham Union

Union history

  • 1834 - Walsingham Poor Law Union was formed.
  • 1838 - Workhouse was at Great Snoring and located at a junction (west of Thursford Common and north of Vinepark Farm) on the Thursford to Little Walsingham Road where the side road goes to Great Snoring, c. NR21 0PB, [Map reference is TF967352]. Also known as "Thursford Workhouse".
  • Description is in Whites 1845 directory
  • 1869 - Parishes of Brinton, Burgh Parva and Melton Constable joined this Union. These were all in the former Brinton Gilbert Union indicated by "Brinton-GU" in the table below.
  • 1930 - Union dissolved.
  • 1933 - Kelly's directory has under "Norfolk No. 7 Guardians Committee" the "The Walsingham Institution erected in 1837 will hold 200 inmates".
  • 1937 - Kelly's directory - as 1933. Under "Little Snoring" is a Children's Home called "Red House".
  • 1950 (publ. 1952) - Marked as "Smallpox Hospital" on OS 6inch map "XVI - NE".
  • 1960's - Building demolished.
  • Marked as "Thursford Castle" on some maps.

Before 1834 some of these parishes belonged to Gilbert Unions, Incorporations or had their own Work or Parish House (WkHse) as shown.

  
Walsingham Union
Places		Pre 1834 Union,
Incorporation
or Parish Work House
Alethorpe 
Bale (or Bathley) 
Barney 
Barsham, East
  (East Barsham)		 
Barsham, North
  (North Barsham)		 
Barsham, West
  (West Barsham)		 
Binham 
Blakeney 
Briningham 
Brinton (from 1869)Brinton-GU
(Pre 1869)
Burgh Parva (from 1869)Brinton-GU
(Pre 1869)
Cockthorpe 
Dunton cum Doughton 
Egmere 
Fakenham (or Fakenham Lancaster)WkHse
Field Dalling 
Fulmodeston cum Croxton 
Gunthorpe 
Helhoughton 
Hempton 
Hindringham 
HolkhamWkHse
Houghton-in-the-Hole
  (Houghton St Giles)		 
Kettlestone 
Langham 
Melton Constable with
  Burgh Parva (from 1869)		Brinton-GU
(Pre 1869)
Morston 
Pensthorpe 
Pudding Norton 
Quarles 
Walsingham Union
Places		Pre 1834 Union,
Incorporation
or Parish Work House
Raynham, East
  (East Raynham
  or Rainham St. Mary)		WkHse
Raynham, South
  (South Raynham
  or Rainham St. Martin)		 
Raynham, West
  (West Raynham
  or Rainham St. Margaret)		WkHse
Ryburgh, Great
  (Great Ryburgh)		 
Ryburgh, Little
  (Little Ryburgh)		 
Saxlingham 
Sculthorpe 
Sharrington 
Shereford 
Snoring, Great
  (Great Snoring)		 
Snoring, Little
  (Little Snoring)		 
Stibbard 
Stiffkey 
Swanton-Novers 
Tatterford 
Tattersett 
Testerton 
Thursford 
Toftrees 
Walsingham, Great
  (Great Walsingham)		WkHse
Walsingham, Little
  (Little Walsingham)		WkHse
Warham All SaintsWkHse
Warham St. MaryWkHse
Wells-next-the-SeaWkHse
WightonWkHse
Wiveton 

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:

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.
June 2015