Building record TQ 64 SW 35 - The Casual Ward, former Tonbridge Union Workhouse

From the reports: "The Casual Ward may have been built to fulfil the Workhouse's obligation to provide two nights accommodation to vagrants, following the Casual Poor Act of 1882. The design of the ward followed the Workhouse rules of separation for males and females, with females to the east and males to the west side of the building. The ground floor was arranged into sleeping and working cells for solitary confinement, as was practised in workhouses and prisons of the mid to late 19th century. The casuals completed work within their cells and possibly also within the day room at the east pavilion. By 1938 drawings had been drafted with proposals for alterations to the buildings, including an upper floor to the east pavilion and the southern work cells had already been blocked. This followed the chainging of the Workhouse into a hospital managed by Kent County Council in 1930."(1)

<1> Gifford and Partners, 2008, Pembury Hospital Near Tunbridge Wells, Kent: front range of the workhouse and 19th century buildings of the lower site: buildings recording and assessment (Unpublished document). SKE13589.