Forum Topic

Brentford Workhouse

I had the pleasure of discovering the plaque for the Brentford Workhouse - does anyone have any records of this within easy reach, stories or records?  Many thanks  Simon

Simon Groves ● 5584d10 Comments

Take a look at Thomas Layton's diary in the Layton Collection at Hounslow Library.  Kept for over a year in 1848 he comments on the meetings of the Board of Guardians - as well as on his fellow Guardians.

Shirley Seaton ● 5577d

Hard to say Jim, but I think it was either the Laundrey or the building for Female Aged.

Neil Chippendale ● 5582d

Picture of the old West Middlesex Hospital buildings taken in 2007 from the adjoining Cemetery. Was this once part of the Workhouse..or was it in the Infirmary section of the large site?

Jim Lawes ● 5583d

Thank you again Mary.I did send an email some 6-9 months ago on behalf of a Forum questioner who was asking if anyone had a picture of the old St John's Roman Catholic School in Brooke Road South on the corner with Clifden Road. There was no reply so I left it! But now you have revived our spirits!

Jim Lawes ● 5583d

This is what is at the LMA. 14 meters of records. Hounslow Local Studies is the best place to start any local history search though."Records of the Brentford Poor Law Union, 1836-1930, including minutes of meetings of the Board of Guardians and various Committees; register of apprentices; correspondence from the Local Government Board; financial accounts and legal documents relating to property; plans of the Brentford Union Workhouses; papers relating to the Board's work as a Sanitary Authority; maps of the parishes within the Union and orders of removal".

Neil Chippendale ● 5583d

According to this website  -  http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-49472.html -the LMA does't hold many useful reocrds of the workhouse. Thanks, Neil, in Australia, for answering a query that might have been directed to Hounslow Local Studies! I keep seeing local history and building enquiries on this forum that could be sent to localstudies-hct@laing.com. Keep plugging the library! Cheers. Mary

Mary Blyth ● 5583d

Its in the Isleworth Parish though.

Neil Chippendale ● 5583d

From what we read in Local History books..the whole town was a workhouse!Just checking the special map..and see that the whole of the West Middx site is in Syon Ward ..so yes the workhouse was in Brentford.Thought it might have been in Isleworth.

Jim Lawes ● 5583d

Are you talking about the Brentford Union Workhouse which is now West Middx. If so all the records are at the London Metropolitan Archives. Also have at look at this site http://www.workhouses.org.uk. It has a very good section on Brentford including maps rtc.

Neil Chippendale ● 5583d

Hope someone can help - we may be needing to refurbish it soon!

Vanessa Smith ● 5584d