Bramley Union Workhouse (St Mary's Hospital), Armley, Leeds. Building Recording (OASIS ID: eddennis1-409166)
Stephen Haigh, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1083539. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Ed Dennison unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd
18 Springdale Way
Beverley
East Yorkshire
HU17 8NU
UK
Tel: 01482 870723
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 3900
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1083539
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
In January 2020, Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd (EDAS) were commissioned by Interserve Construction Ltd, to produce an archaeological and architectural photographic record of the entrance block and associated structures at the former Bramley Union Workhouse (now St Mary’s Hospital), Green Hill Road, Armley, Leeds LS12 3QE, prior to their demolition (NGR SE 25660 33928 centred). The work, which was made a condition of full planning approval by Leeds City Council, was achieved through a photographic record, augmented by documentary research, brought together in a descriptive report. The fieldwork was undertaken in late January 2020, and the project was funded by Interserve Construction Ltd.
The Bramley Poor Law Union was officially created on the 27th December 1862, but it did not reach its final extent until 1869, by which date it covered the West Yorkshire townships of Bramley, Gildersome, Wortley, Armley and Farnley. The new workhouse complex occupied a locally elevated position on the flattened top of a long ridge, and its conspicuous nature was noted in contemporary newspaper accounts. The complex was originally enclosed by a stone wall, part of which ran along Mortuary Lane to the north of the entrance block.
The designs for the workhouse complex were produced by the Leeds architects Charles Sebastian Nelson (1844-1924) and Alline F (or James) Nelson, mostly in December 1870 or January 1871. The main building is an example of what was known as a corridor-plan workhouse, and it was one of the last examples to be erected in England. The same architects were also responsible for the Wharfedale Union workhouse at Otley, West Yorkshire, opened in 1873, and the overall massing of the entrance block at the two sites is very similar, as is some of the detailing. The provision of a separate entrance block at Bramley reflects contemporary developments in workhouse design and, with one minor exception, the entrance block was built as shown on the original designs.
The architects’ original designs, together with comparison to other workhouses, allows the functioning of the entrance block to be reconstructed. The entrance block essentially acted as the interface between the workhouse and the wider world, receiving those who sought temporary or more long-term admission to the institution. After arriving at the entrance gates on Green Hill Road, passing the porter’s lodge and walking along the entrance drive, those seeking admission (probationers) would have been separated by sex and taken to the Relieving Officers’ rooms which flank the entrance lobby. They would then be taken to separate bathing and disinfecting rooms. Formal admission was authorised by the Board of Guardians, and their Board Room is located within the entrance block so that probationers could be brought before them to make their case for admission. Despite significant modern alteration, the status of the Board Room is still reflected by the surviving ceiling detailing.
At the east end of the entrance block was the area given over to the reception of vagrants or casual admissions. After admission and segregation by sex, vagrants were stripped and bathed, and issued with a workhouse nightshirt. They were locked up in a common dormitory or ward until the early morning, after which they were required to do a certain amount of work, and were then discharged. At Bramley, the female vagrants’ yard was equipped with an oakum shed, whilst the shed in the male vagrants’ yard may have been used for stone breaking. Both the east and the west ranges are likely to form part of the original 1872 workhouse complex, or early additions to it, even though they do not appear on any of the 1870-71 designs. In their earliest form, both were single storey brick buildings with hipped roofs; the west range almost certainly had a range of pigsties to the north. Structural evidence indicates that the northernmost two bays of the east range were used as a cart shed. By the early 20th century, the west range formed a stables, whilst the east range (which had been extended before 1893) formed wood sheds. Structural evidence, and comparison with a 1904 disinfecting station in Bradford, strongly suggests that, in the early 20th century, the north end of earliest part of the east range was converted into a disinfecting suite, quite possibly associated with the vagrants’ area at the east end of the entrance block.
At some point between 1908 and 1921, the pigsties at the north end of the west range were demolished and replaced by a two storey building. The function of this new building is uncertain, but it was well lit and might feasibly have provided further accommodation or wards of some kind. From at least the later 19th century onwards, the space between the ranges and the boundary wall of the complex formed a garden, containing several glasshouse structures. It is probable that this was used for growing vegetables to help supply the workhouse kitchens and also for sale. All the recorded buildings were substantially altered internally during the second half of the 20th century, as might be expected given its hospital function, resulting in the loss of most of their historic fixtures and fittings.
