The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, known as the ‘new Poor Law’, reformed the system of support for the poor in August 1834. The Act grouped local parishes into Poor Law unions, managed by over 600 locally elected Boards of Guardians. Each union had a workhouse to care for paupers, the insane, children, and those requiring medical care with no other support.
The Act aimed to deter people from seeking support by making workhouse conditions harsher than those of poverty and earning a living. Workhouses admitted a wide range of people, including those with mental health and learning difficulties, neglected or orphaned children, the impoverished, and the ill.
The Belfast Union Workhouse was established on the Lisburn Road. The former Methodist church, designed by architect W.J. Barre in the 1860s, is listed for its distinctive red brick “Lombard-Venetian-Romanesque” campanile and deeply Italianate architectural style.
If you fancy learning more about the Queen’s Quarter, come on my tour of the area! Details are here.