By Jenny Needham

Hush-a-bye baby, on a tree top,
When you grow old, your wages will stop.
When you have spent the little you made
First to the poorhouse and then to the grave."

THIS anonymous Yorkshire rhyme tells the story of many a working man's life in the 19th Century when workhouses were present in most parishes. Today, Ripon’s Workhouse Museum is one of the few remaining and best preserved workhouse sites in the country. The rather elegant building in Allhallowgate, standing in grounds graced with flower beds and trees seems far removed from the dreaded workhouse as portrayed in Dicken’s classic novel Oliver Twist.

A feeling of doom or at best hopeless resignation must have fallen on many passing through the Gatehouse arch with the likely realisation that they would leave only in the regulation coffin, which were ordered in bulk, with two handles, name of the person and the year of their decease inscribed.

Nor was it only labourers who entered. In 1861, the "former master wheelwright", "former gentleman's servant", "master shoe-maker", butcher, farmer and many who had known better times found themselves in old age, or when widowed, in a similar predicament; as did the children under the age of 12, the youngest inmate being Matthew Colby, aged two weeks.

Children arrived in the workhouse for a number of reasons. If an able-bodied man was admitted to (or departed from) the workhouse, his whole family had to accompany him. Once inside, the family was split up, with each going to their own section. A child under seven could, if deemed "expedient", be accommodated with its mother in the female section of the workhouse and even share her bed.

Ripon Workhouse was built in 1854, although historical documents reveal the site was the local Poorhouse from 1776, during a time when parishes were each responsible for deciding how best to look after the poor in their area.

By 1832, there was national concern at the expense of maintaining the poor and a Commission of Enquiry was appointed. Ripon’s Poorhouse was found to have 33 inmates, 11 men, 11 boys, nine women and two girls. Only one of the men was not "able bodied" at 68 years of age, and those who were able to work spent eight hours a day breaking stones to mend roads. As a result of this enquiry, a new system of poor relief was developed across the country based around the idea of the workhouse.

Life inside the workhouse was intended to be as off-putting as possible. Men, women, children, the infirm, and the able-bodied were housed separately and given very basic and monotonous food such as watery porridge called gruel, or bread and cheese. All inmates had to wear the rough workhouse uniform and sleep in communal dormitories. The able-bodied were given hard work whilst the elderly and infirm sat around in the day-rooms with little opportunity for visitors.

The workhouse was almost a self-sufficient world of its own, with its own teacher, chaplain and doctors, chopping its own firewood, doing its own laundry, growing its own vegetables, having its own infirmary and its own van to transport lunatics to asylums elsewhere if they became unduly violent.

Vagrants presented a special problem and in 1877 a separate block of buildings was provided where they could have an evening meal, a bed for the night and leave the next day after completing a designated task.

More than one in ten people have an ancestor who was in a workhouse. Workhouse Connections, is a fascinating event at Ripon’s Workhouse Museum on Friday and Saturday, February 27 and 28, which will help you to discover any workhouse connections in your family history. Over the two days you will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with original workhouse records, find out more about using archives and hear from leading experts in both family research and workhouse history.

Aimed at people with an interest in family history, from beginners to those whose research is well under way, this unique event will show you what to do next if you discover a relative who was in a workhouse, reveal what sources are available and how you can access them.

There is an impressive line up of speakers including:

• Dr Andy Gritt, a specialist on Victorian poverty and public history

• Peter Park, an expert in 19th century Poor Law Commission, and regular speaker at Who Do You Think You Are? Live.

• Peter Higgenbotham, a workhouse expert and a familiar figure from TV shows such as Heir Hunters and Who Do You Think You Are?

• Piers Dudgeon, a biographer who made the shocking discovery that author Barbara Taylor-Bradford’s grandmother had spent time in Ripon Workhouse.

Places on the event are £180 per person, and for full details about the weekend visit riponmuseums.co.uk/workhouse_connections, phone 01765-690799 or contact kathrynbedford@riponmuseums.co.uk

A visit to the museum provides a harsh insight into what poverty once meant to the poor. Ripon Workhouse Museum is open every day from the end of February to the end of November from 11-4pm daily (from 10am in school holidays). The Workhouse Museum is located at Sharow View, Allhallowgate, Ripon HG4 1LE