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bedminster union workhouse

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Avril Parker

Avril Parker Report 14 Oct 2008 21:34

hi does anyone have any info on the workhouse or the parkers that were there around 1881

Paul

Paul Report 14 Oct 2008 21:37

Bedminster (Long Ashton from 1899), Somerset
[Up to 1834] [After 1834] [Staff] [Inmates] [Records] [Bibliography] [Links]

Up to 1834
A parliamentary report of 1777 recorded parish workhouses in operation at Bedminster (for up to 60 inmates) and Winford (14 inmates).

Three cottages, now known as Trinity Cottage, on Old Church Road in Clevedon were once used a parish poorhouse.

After 1834
Bedminster Poor Law Union was formed on 11th April 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 34 in number, representing its 23 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

Somerset: Abbot's Leigh, Backwell (2), Barrow Gurney, Bedminster (6), Brockley, Chelvey, Clapton, Easton in Gordano or St George's (2), Clevedon (2), Dundry, Flax Bourton, Kenn, Kingston Seymour, Long Ashton (2), Nailsea (2), Portbury, Portishead, Tickenham, Walton in Gordano, Weston in Gordano, Winford, Wraxall, Yatton (2).
Later Additions: Bishopsworth (from 1890s), North Weston (from 1894).

The population falling within the union at the 1831 census had been 29,399 - ranging from Chelvey (population 70) to Bedminster itself (13,130). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1833-35 had been £9,752.

The new Board of Guardians had their first meeting on the 12th April, 1836, at the Red Cow Inn, Bedminster, not far from the old parish poorhouse.

Bedminster Union workhouse was built in 1837-8 on what is now Old Weston Road at Flax Bourton. The Poor Law Commissioners authorized £6,600 on its construction which was to accommodate 300 inmates. The architects were George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt who designed many workhouses in the south-west including Williton, Bideford, Newton Abbot, and Tavistock.

The buildings comprised three parallel blocks: a single-storeyed entrance range with a central archway, a main building with a central hub and cross-wings at each end, and a U-shaped infirmary to the rear flanked by a washhouse and workshops.

Paul

Paul Report 14 Oct 2008 21:39

George PARKER U 63 M Inmate Agricul Labourer Backwell, Somerset
James PARKER W 60 M Vagrant Coal Miner Georgeham, Devon
Louisa PARKER 7 F Inmate (Daur) Scholar Bedminster
Mary PARKER U 27 F Inmate (Head) Domestic Servant Bedminster
William PARKER 4 M Inmate (Son) Scholar

Sam

Sam Report 14 Oct 2008 21:39

Names and dates of birth would be a help for the Parkers.

Have you tried Googling 'Bedminster Workhouse'?

Sam x

Avril Parker

Avril Parker Report 15 Oct 2008 19:06

mary louisa and william are my relations i dsid once find some info that they could have lived in bishopsworth road after they were discharged from the workhouse and that there was a guy called john parker that was the head of house and he was a coal miner i have williams birthday as 21/10/1887 these details may be wrong but i def know he was born 1887