Description:The kitchens at New Cross Workhouse.
New Cross Workhouse was built due to overcrowding at Wolverhampton Union’s Bilston Road Workhouse. Designed by Arthur Marshall of Nottingham, the foundation stone for the new workhouse was laid in September 1900 by Chairman of the Guardians, Mr Price. The workhouse was formally opened on 24th September 1903. The Bilston Road buildings were then closed and demolished. New Cross workhouse could accommodate up to 1,246 inmates, 20 nurses, and 60 other officers. The total cost of the buildings, which themselves occupied an area of six acres, was £156,879. After 1930, control of the workhouse site passed to the Wolverhampton Public Assistance Committee and it became New Cross Hospital. Many of the old workhouse blocks have now been replaced by modern buildings.
Image courtesy Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies. Additional information from the Workhouse website www.workhouses.org.uk