What should we do with the workhouse?

11:28am Monday 17th March 2008

Thousands of people pass by Southlands Hospital without even glancing at the old buildings in the north-west corner.

But they are an important part of Shoreham's history and form a conservation area.

They are workhouse buildings, which date back to 1901.

Adur District Council has been consulting people about the future of these buildings, which are likely to be put to new uses over the next few years.

The hospital's League of Friends and Tim Loughton MP successfully asked for the consultation period to be extended.

Friends' chairman Malcolm Brett said: "We hope more people will have responded to show Adur the last remaining part of the Steyning Workhouse is worth preserving for future generations."

He also lent me a book from 1990, produced by the Friends, called Southlands Workhouse And Hospital by the Reverend John White.

Mr White himself was part of Southlands' history. He was its Church of England chaplain from 1956 until 1982.

He was also the priest in charge of St Giles's Church, Shoreham. The two jobs went together because the church was on the site, having been built as a chapel.

The original workhouse for the area was in Ham Road and was built for what was called the Steyning Union, an amalgamation of nearby parishes on the East and West Sussex border.

Early last century, it was decided to rebuild the workhouse off the main road to Brighton, which is now Upper Shoreham Road, and the old building became a children's home. That was later demolished and the site is now used for both housing and shops.

Construction of the workhouse began in 1898 and the first paupers were received three years later. It was a large building capable of taking almost 500 people.

Sussex is always looked on as a prosperous county but there were pockets of poverty in the country villages and more serious ones in the towns by the coast.

Considerable efforts were made to keep men and women separate but some men managed to get over gates which had been built to prevent people climbing over them.

One woman became pregnant and an inquiry was held into how men and women had managed to get messages to each other. The answer was simple. They had used the post.

Only a handful of staff were employed to look after all the paupers and their wages were low, even by the standards of the day. Mr White said there was far better pay and a good deal more freedom for people employed in the prison service.

Punishments meted out by the authorities included stone pounding for the men and picking oakum for the women.

Conditions were better in the children's home, although in 1907 it was reported there were 127 youngsters but only 92 beds and cots for them.

During the First World War, the staffing problem was made worse by the fact able-bodied staff tended to join the Forces.

Mr White reported a baby was found in the porch of a house in Aldrington, Hove, in 1915 and brought to the workhouse.

He was registered by the master as being of unknown parentage and the Board of Guardians gave him the name of Thomas Aldrington.

Mr White said: "It was customary to name foundlings after the street in which they were found but Thomas inherited a parish instead."

He was transferred from the workhouse to the children's home and had happy memories of the place.

Thomas later served in the Army, being sent to India and Burma. On his return he worked for the Post Office. He married and moved to Brighton, where he and his wife brought up two daughters.

The workhouse, which included an infirmary, was renamed Southlands Hospital in 1932. Great expansion took place after the Second World War, particularly during the 1960s.

Eventually, the older buildings were no longer needed for the hospital. Some were demolished but a number remain, including an entrance block, the refectory, St Giles's Church and a men's dormitory.

Development is likely and desirable but it would be good if as much of the old buildings as possible could be preserved as part of the history of Southlands.

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