Derry Workhouse was a

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Located in the Waterside area of the city, the workhouse operated from 1840 to 1948.

History

As a result of the

Irish Poor Law Act of 1838 The Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict, c. 56) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the system of poor relief in Ireland. The legislation was largely influenced by the English Poor Law Act 1834. Following it ...

, a workhouse with a capacity for 800 people opened in the city on 10 November 1840 and was the first operational workhouse in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

. During the

Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

(1845-1849), the number of people who were poverty-stricken drastically increased and, like many other workhouses in Ireland at the time, the workhouse experienced severe overcrowding. With the introduction of the

National Assistance Act 1948 The National Assistance Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. It formally abolished the Poor Law system that had existed since the reign of Elizabeth I, and established a social s ...

and the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

, the workhouse closed in 1948. The buildings housed the Waterside hospital until 1991, then were redeveloped as private housing, with the main dormitory area used as a library and museum. During the redevelopment, numerous human remains were found. These remains, believed to be of people who died in the mid-nineteenth century, were later interred in the local Ballyoan cemetery. The museum opened in 1997. In 2014, the Derry City Council decided to close the museum citing health and safety issues, and decreasing visitor numbers. The council planned to turn the space into apartments.

References

Buildings and structures in Derry (city) Workhouses in Northern Ireland {{Londonderry-geo-stub