The Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales Workhouse is a free website for Pontypool Poor Law Union records or Pontypool Workhouse records. It includes a history of the workhouse, photographs, and transcribed list of staff and inmates from the 1881 census.

What is a Workhouse?

Workhouses were traditionally places where the working poor and those unable to sufficiently support themselves were offered a place to live and work in exchange for food and shelter. By the end of the 19th century, they hosted many of the elderly and infirm instead of less fortunate working people.

Free Video or Books for Sale

Workhouses.org.uk is a site authored by Peter Higginbotham and has records from Workhouses across the UK including England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Watch “The History of the Workhouse with Peter Higginbotham” at FindMyPast for a history of the Workhouses or visit his website and see the books he’s published.