If you didn’t have money and a way to support yourself and your family in the 1800s you might be forced to go into the workhouse. Find out what life was really like for the men, women and children who ended up there. 

Heading into the Workhouse, even if modern times, feels ominous and foreboding. Walk alongside Curator James Grasby as he enters The Workhouse and Infirmary in Southwell and takes on the role of an inmate in 1871. He meets the tyrannical Master of the house and discovers what work he would have done, and whether he made it out alive.

[Ad from our sponsor] This podcast episode is sponsored by family history website Findmypast. What was life like for domestic servants, workers and local communities at our most fascinating heritage sites? Discover how people from all walks of life lived and worked, and who with, in hundreds of census records, for free, by signing up with Findmypast. And find out about the free trial that you could use to explore your family history. See where the past takes you at: findmypast.co.uk/national-trust

Host: James Grasby

Producer: Claire Hickinbotham

Sound Editor: Jesus Gomez

Find out more about the history of The Workhouse and Infirmary www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/the-workhouse-and-infirmary  

Learn about the collections that tell the stories pf people who lived and worked at The Workhouse and Infirmary 

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/the-workhouse-and-infirmary/collections-at-the-workhouse-and-firbeck-infirmary