On 12 April 1836 Walsingham Poor Law Union was formed, and a new Walsingham Union workhouse was built at Great Snoring in the same year to accommodate up to 250 inmates. The architect was William Thorold, and he based it on Sampson Kempthorne's model cruciform plan published by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1835. Four accommodation wings were joined to a central supervisory area, allowing segregation of different categories of inmate. Areas between the wings were used as exercise space. Workshops and service buildings around the edge gave the overall site an octagonal shape. To the east of the site a chapel was built.
After the closure of the workhouse, the buildings had various uses: as a smallpox hospital in the 1930s; by the Civil Defence in the 1950s; and most recently, plans to convert the building into 35 flats were approved in 1961. But no conversion was carried out and the buildings have now been demolished.
In 2014 The Workhouse, now more correctly known as Thursford Castle was sold to a property developer who has again offered it for sale complete with Planning Consent for a domestic residence.
I stumbled upon this site completely by chance after driving past in for nearly 30 years and never knowing it was there. During a visit since these pictures were taken the trees have mostly all been cleared from the site and it appears that development work has started.
After the closure of the workhouse, the buildings had various uses: as a smallpox hospital in the 1930s; by the Civil Defence in the 1950s; and most recently, plans to convert the building into 35 flats were approved in 1961. But no conversion was carried out and the buildings have now been demolished.
In 2014 The Workhouse, now more correctly known as Thursford Castle was sold to a property developer who has again offered it for sale complete with Planning Consent for a domestic residence.
I stumbled upon this site completely by chance after driving past in for nearly 30 years and never knowing it was there. During a visit since these pictures were taken the trees have mostly all been cleared from the site and it appears that development work has started.
