|
Health and welfare architecture and buildings
From baths to workhouses, the Trust cares for many buildings related to both the fashionable and the functional aspects of health and welfare.
Our most notable holding is the Workhouse at Southwell, opened following restoration in March 2002. This prototype Victorian building dating from 1824 established the architectural model for hundreds of similar workhouses. They were introduced throughout Britain under the New Poor Law, and were the bedrock of a system of welfare treatment based on harsh conditions and the segregation of family members.
Other National Trust places where you can see health and welfare architecture:
Blaise Hamlet nr Bristol. Antony in Cornwall. Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire. Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. 'Roman' Bath in London. Wall Roman Site (Letocetum) Baths & Museum in Staffordshire.
Civil architecture and buildings
We protect many buildings which were once the legal and administrative hub of their local communities.
The Old Town Hall on the Isle of Wight is a relic of the days when the small village of Newtown elected two Members of Parliament despite its tiny population.
The Town Hall was the setting for often turbulent elections. An exhibition inside depicts the exploits of ‘Ferguson’s Gang’, an anonymous group of Trust benefactors which bought the Old Town Hall and, after repairing and restoring it, gave it to the Trust in 1933.
The Guildhall of Corpus Christi in Lavenham, Suffolk was built around 1530 by one of Lavenham's religious gilds (the original spelling of 'guild'). In it, meetings would be held and business transacted. As part of the English Reformation, religious gilds were abolished and in subsequent centuries it served as the local Town Hall, a 'Bridewell' or House of Correction, and a Workhouse.
Although open to the public, the main hall is still used by the local community for meetings, parties and functions, serving much the same purpose as it was built for almost five centuries ago.
Other National Trust places where you can see civil architecture:
The Church House in Devon; St George's Guildhall in Norfolk; Long Crendon Courthouse in Buckinghamshire; and the well-known Assembly Rooms of Georgian Bath.
|
