Description:This plan is of the vagrant ward at Stoke workhouse which was built in 1842. Homeless people wishing to enter the workhouse had to obtain a ticket from the police station and were then allowed in at six o'clock. They had a bath and were then locked in a cell overnight, being woken with a breakfast of bread and water. They then spent the day in another cell breaking up rock with a hammer and had a dinner of bread and cheese. They were turned out of the workhouse the following day.
An account written in 1902 stated: 'Stoke workhouse is not overcrowded with casuals, luckily, for they evidently think the task alloted to them is too much'.
Diagrams (from top):
- Front of block
- Ground floor plan
- First floor plan
This diagram was created in 1982 during the Stoke-on-Trent Historic Building Survey and is reproduced by kind permission of HMSO.