Southwell Workhouse

The Workhouse, also known as Greet House, in the town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England, is a museum operated by the National Trust, opened to the public in 2002. Built in 1824, it was the prototype of the 19th-century workhouse,

and was cited by the Royal Commission on the poor law as the best example among the existing workhouses, before the resulting New Poor Law of 1834 led to the construction of workhouses across the country.

It was designed by William Adams Nicholson, an architect of Southwell and Lincoln, together with the Revd. John T. Becher, a pioneer of workhouse and prison reform involving daily tasks of hard labour by breaking stones and recycling of oakum. It is described by the National Trust as the best-preserved workhouse in England.