1) In the 17th century Southampton’s workhouse was housed in St John’s Hospital in French Street. In 1773, when Southampton Poor Law Incorporation was formed and a local Board of Guardians appointed, it was decided to build a new workhouse on a different site. Consequently, the St John’s site was sold and the proceeds used to build a new workhouse on the north side of St Mary’s church. In 1866, after the St Mary's workhouse had been roundly condemned by a poor law inspector, a new building was erected on the same site. After World War Two the buildings were taken over the County Council and converted into a technical school. It became Southampton Technical College in 1965, and is now part of the City College.
2) South Stoneham workhouse in the 18th century stood on north side of Burgess Road, a little west of the north-east corner of the common. In 1803 land was rented from Moorgreen House in West End on which new workhouse premises were erected. In 1835 the South Stoneham Union was formed. The architectural designs were by the London architect Charles Henman, but they were implemented by William Hinves. The building work was completed in 1850.
Technical College (Former Workhouse), St Mary Street
Photograph, 1981
Technical College (Former Workhouse), St Mary Street×
see also
Further reading:
History of Southampton, by Rev. J. S. Davies, p297-300. (HS/h)
History of Southampton Vol 2, by A. Temple Patterson, p128-129. (HS/h)
Southampton Occasional Notes, 2nd Series, by ‘Townsman’, p57. (HS/h)
A History of the Southampton Technical College Buildings, by Christine Anstey. (HS/lr)
‘Southampton Workhouse Architectural Competition’, in The Builder, Vol. 23, 1865, p556.
Half a Loaf, by Eric H. Raffo. (HS/r)
‘Facilities at the South Stoneham Workhouse’, by Eric H. Raffo, in Hampshire Field Club Newsletter (New Series), No. 20, Autumn 1993, p20-21. (H/h)
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