Norfolk: Poor Law after 1834 Act

Henstead Union

Union history

• 1834 - Henstead Poor Law Union was formed.
• 1835 - Workhouse at Church Road, Swainsthorpe, NR14 8PS, [Map reference is TG212012].
• 1845 - Description is in Whites directory under the Humbleyard Hundred section.
• 1883 - Description is in Whites directory under the entry for Swainsthorpe.
• 1930 - Union dissolved.
• 1933 - Kelly's directory has under the section "Norfolk No 5 Area Guardians Committee" - "The Swainsthorpe Institution built 1836 has been adapted for 171 cases of senile dementia. The Wicklewood Institution has taken over the ordinary inmates".
• 1937 - Kelly's directory - similar to 1933 but called "Vale Institution".
• 1948 - 1984 Called "The Vale Hospital" and now closed.
• Converted into flats.

Before 1834 some of these parishes 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 (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."

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

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If you use this information in your research, please say that it is from Genuki Norfolk.

Copyright © Mike Bristow.
May 2011