Minehead Parish Workhouses

Before the New Poor Law and the establishment of Union workhouses parishes had to take care of their poor in their own homes or in communal accommodation. Some parishes set up poorhouses but others created workhouses where paupers were set to work or from which paupers could be hired by the community for casual work to offset the cost of their keep.

Possibly because Minehead had almshouses and an attempt to set up a parish almshouse failed the decision was made in the 1730s to set up a parish workhouse.