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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Former workhouse in Nantwich, dating from 1780

A workhouse, colloquially known as a spike,[1] was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment. The term was the usual word in England, Wales, and Ireland for the institution more commonly known in Scotland as a poorhouse.[2] Its earliest known use dates from 1631, in an account by the mayor of Abingdon in which he reports that "wee haue erected wthn our borough a workehouse to sett poore people to worke".[3]

Although small numbers of workhouses were established in other European countries, the system was most highly developed in England. Holland, for instance, had three large workhouses for the entire country,[4] whereas the English county of Cheshire alone had 31 by 1777.[5]