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As you walk up or down Market Hill, among the many historic buildings is a collection of Listed townhouses opposite the Market Hill Garden, just below Cromwell Lane. Now elegant, private homes, these buildings were once a single institution, Maldon's first workhouse.
Established in the will of clergyman and philanthropist Dr Thomas Plume, the workhouse housed up to 50 residents at a time, local people fallen on hard times who received shelter and food in return for tedious and gruelling work. One common workhouse task was unravelling old rope using a sharp tool, which is probably the origin of the nickname for the building, "The Spike". As well as the inmates, around another 100 local people were also supported with work provided there.
The Market Hill workhouse was operational between 1719 and 1873, changing its name to the Union Workhouse in 1834. It was extended several times, but had up to 300 inmates crammed in there before it was replaced with a larger building in Spital Road, now part of St Peter's Hospital.
The buildings are not open to the public, but you can see the blue plaque that commemorates this important chapter in Maldon's history, part of the legacy of Dr Thomas Plume, who also founded the Plume Library. While today, workhouses are remembered for being harsh, forbidding places, before the establishment of the facility in Maldon the poorest and most vulnerable could have ended up starving on the streets.
