The Workhouse at Framlingham Castle

Speaking with Shadows

This time, we’re turning the cruel, inhumane image of Victorian workhouses on its head. Josie Long heads to a Suffolk village to unravel the evolution of poor laws as well as the birth of modern health and social care.

Framlingham Castle once served as a workhouse, lodgings and administrative centre of relief for the area’s poor and needy. So what was life really like for poor people here between the 17th and 19th centuries?

Historian Dr Jeremy Ashbee joins Josie to explore the lesser-known social history of this renowned castle and the vision of local MP Sir Robert Hitcham, who purchased it in the 1630s.

Anthony Wooding, a member of the Framlingham Castle Volunteers, takes Josie inside the castle to share stories of the people who lived in and passed through Framlingham in its workhouse years.

And workhouse historian Peter Higginbotham explains how attitudes to the poor and the rights and freedoms of individuals have changed through the centuries.

Speaking with Shadows is an English Heritage podcast.

You can find out more on these stories by going to www.english-heritage.org.uk/speakingwithshadows or head to the English Heritage website to find out how you can visit Framlingham Castle yourself.

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