Monument record TQ 85 SW 102 - Hollingbourne Union Workhouse, Hollingbourne, Maidstone

The following information was derived from 'workhouses.org' website and needs to be verified. Hollingbourne Union Workhouse was allegedly built in 1836. It is attested on an OS map of 1895. It is believed that the original building was demolished in the 1920s and after 1930 a private residence known as 'White Heath' was built on the site. The associated mortuary, built in 1895, is the only surviving building. [See MKE 42952 for the associated mortuary building]. There are associated records in the Centre for Kentish Studies and Canterbury Cathedral Archives.

Hollingbourne Union Workhouse was built in 1836 at a cost of £5000 and could accommodate 300 inmates. The buildings had an H-shaped layout with an entrance block facing south onto Ashford Road, which may have contained a board-room, porter's room and Master's quarters at the centre. Inmates were accommodated to wings either side, and to the rear. The space between the buildings would have been separated into exercise yards for different classes of inmate (e.g. male/female, able-bodied/infirm). The buildings have now fallen into disrepair and all that survives intact is a mortuary, which was added in 1895. It is a small, attractive building constructed of brick with what appears from photographs to be a tiled roof. It has a wooden doorway and a cross above the entrance. [3-6]

<1> Peter Higginbotham, 2018, http://www.workhouses.org.uk (Website). SKE51754.

<2> Kent Workhouses
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© 2017 Kent Workhouses, 2018, Kent Workhouses & Poorhouses (Website). SKE51755.

<3> Uncatalogued Archive File - Workhouses 100948 (Verbal communication). SKE59227.

<4> Peter Higginbotham, Higginbotham, Peter. 2000. The Workhouse. (Website). SKE53741.

<5> Kathryn Morrison, 1999, The Workhouse: A Study of Poor Law Buildings in England (Monograph). SKE58618.

<6> Ordinance Survey, 1908, Ordnance Survey: Kent Epoch 3, 1:2500 1908 (Map). SKE55863.