Archaeologists find 'incredible' new twist on workhouse life

Over its 200-year history, its premises were cramped and overcrowded, bleak and bug-ridden. But when the St Pancras workhouse opened in 1809, it was meant to bring comfort to those who had fallen on hard times, site excavations have revealed.

- Dalya Alberge

Archaeologists from Mola (Museum of London Archaeology) have been astonished to uncover "a significant portion of these original buildings" and "incredible new details about the lives of the residents and masters". 

Gwilym Williams, the Mola project manager, said it conjured up "a very different picture compared with the dark, dingy workhouses often depicted in popular culture", most notably in the powerful writing of Charles Dickens.

Little had been known about this building beyond its shape on parish maps, but the archaeologists found walls up to a metre high with brightly coloured plaster, and fireplaces that once warmed the rooms. These are among discoveries that offer insights into early 19th-century workhouses, established to help the poor.

While inmates received lodging and basic food, they were also deterred from taking advantage of the state by having to do hard labour and repetitive tasks, such as oakumpicking and stone-breaking.