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Workhouse museum seeks memories of time as care home

Clare Wordenin Gressenhall
Clare Worden/BBC Museum curator Rachel Kidd stands in front of a large brick building with a blue clock in the centre. She is wearing a purple, long-sleeved top. She has long, brown hair. Clare Worden/BBC
Curator Rachel Kidd said there was still a stigma attached to living in the care home because it had been a workhouse

A museum at a former Victorian workhouse is appealing for people's memories of the time when it was turned into a care home after World War Two.

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse is based at buildings that date from 1777 which are celebrating their 250th anniversary next year.

In the 1940s, it was turned into a care home and renamed Beech House. It closed in 1975 with residents being moved to Holt and Costessey.

Curator Rachel Kidd said the anniversary might be the "last chance" to capture the accounts of people who lived, visited and worked there.

Clare Worden/BBC Gabby Meadows is standing in front of a large black and white photograph showing a group of men who were residents in the care home. She has shoulder-length blonde hair and is wearing a black jumper. She is wearing a green lanyard. Clare Worden/BBC
Gabby Meadows said it might be the last chance to record people's memories of life in Beech House

The workhouse was a place where people living in poverty/on the breadline could come and exchange physical labour for food and shelter.

Gabby Meadows, research and community co-ordinator at the museum, said: "As social care and healthcare was changing in the '40s with the development of the NHS, things were changing at Gressenhall.

"It was moving away from that kind of workhouse environment and becoming about offering support to families."

Despite the changes, Meadows said there still was a stigma attached to the site because of its time as a workhouse.

She is hoping that people who visited relatives at Beech House will come forward to share their memories.

Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse A black and white image of Beech House. It is a large, two-storey brick building in a Victorian style. There is small outhouse in front of the main building, surrounded by a U-shaped driveway. There is a clock just below the pointed eaves above the first floor, and a cupola on the roof above the clock.Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse
Beech House as it was in the 1960s when it was a care home

The team has already had a number of people come forward to share their experiences.

Angela Almond's father was a religious minister in Dereham in the 1960s who would regularly visit Gressenhall and take her with him.

"I was very conscious that some of the residents didn't want to be here," she said.

"Not because they were not cared for or fed properly, but because they were of the generation that grew up while it was still a workhouse."

Clare Worden/BBC A classroom with wooden floorboards and desks. A woman in Victorian costume holds a cane. She is teaching five children who are also in Victorian dress. Behind her is a blackboard with chalk writing on it. Clare Worden/BBC
The site's Victorian past is brought to life for school visits where children are taken back in time

The workhouse site, which has a school, chapel and laundry, is a popular school trip location hosting hundreds of children from across the region.

Its history as a workhouse is brought to life by staff in costume.

Curator Rachel Kidd said they want to understand more about the contemporary history.

"We want to show that the health and welfare system changed a lot in those 200 years all in one building," she said.

"It really is important to remember to reflect on how we do that today."

The 250th anniversary commemorations are being funded by £131,916 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and £11,500 from the Friends of Gressenhall.

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