A local Act of 1778 established the Stow Hundred Incorporation to administer poor relief on behalf of its fourteen member parishes. The local guardians of the poor, namely: Rev. Henry Hill, of Buxhall, Rev. Charles Davy of Onehouse, Rev. Thomas Hutchinson of Gt. Finborough, met with the owners of the 24 acres and 30 perches of land at Onehouse and Chilton Hamlet, namely Mr William Wollaston and his wife Blanch, and an agreement to build was signed on 26^th April 1779. On the 14^th July 1779 an Indenture was made between Mr and Mrs Wollaston and Mr Samuel Alexander a builder of Needham Market.

By 1781 a House of Industry known as “The House for the Poor of the Hundred of Stow” had been erected at Onehouse at a cost of £1,200. In 1835 the workhouse was taken over by the new Stow Poor Law Union, and overseen by an elected Board of Guardians from the 31 constituent parishes.

The 1881 census shows that the workhouse had a staff of 3 (Neville Simmonds and his wife and son) and 138 inmates.

Some time later, the workhouse became Stow Lodge Hospital, which closed in 1991, and now the building has been converted into 40 flats which are administered by a housing association.

There are a number of other buildings on the original workhouse site which are home to a number of organisations:

• C.H.A.R.T. Central Suffolk Assessment Rehabilitation Team
• Central Suffolk Primary Care Trust
• The local Ambulance Station
• The Icanho Centre - a day-centre run by the John Grooms Association for Disabled People providing long term care for adults recovering from brain injuries.
• Stepping Stones, Stowmarket and Area Opportunity Group, organising play for disabled children.

The nearby Paupers Graves area is the original workhouse cemetery and has been the subject of extensive restoration in recent years.

For more information see www.workhouses.org.uk. Many thanks to Peter Higginbotham for letting us draw on this information and for supplying the picture.