BRIGG WORKHOUSE LASTED MUCH LONGER THAN MANY PEOPLE REALISE

Brigg Workhouse - completed in the year when Queen Victoria first took to the throne - was still standing in the early 1970s when this bird's eye view was taken, showing the rear of its buildings in the centre. However, by then, it had not undertaken its original  grim function for 40 years.
The town's workhouse served a wide area and was managed by the Brigg Poor Law Union - serving 52 parishes.
It offered what was known as 'relief' to those in desperate need. Rather than housing people in the same building, many parishes had offered 'outdoor relief' to support the very needy living in whatever accommodation they could find to rent for a few shillings.
Whether the term 'care' should be used in a workhouse context is very much open to debate today - for the government in the Victorian era intended workhouses to be the last resort for the poor, elderly and destitute. 

However, people were fed and given shelter in the workhouse as long as they carried out menial tasks, if considered by the locally-appointed medical officer to be fit enough to do so.
The regime was meant to be frugal - a fact demonstrated in 1897 when the Brigg Board of Guardians decided not to allow a pint of beer apiece to be made available to old men living in the Workhouse to drink Queen Victoria's health on the Diamond Jubilee. This decision was reported by the local press and we think a local benefactor was willing to pay for the ale.
The workhouse had extensive allotment gardens used to grow its own vegetables, but a number of local companies tendered to supply other foodstuffs, including bread and meat.
In 1900 the guardians permitted talking by residents at meal-times for the first time – a change in policy that also made local newspaper headlines. An on-site chapel had been provided some 30 years earlier.
By the early 20th century, workhouses across the UK were catering morr for elderly people than those of working age, as limited 'national assistance' was available to those out of work.
Workhouses were not officially abolished until 1930 - after which many of these buildings were re-purposed for social care (in the modern sense) and run by councils rather than Poor Law guardians.
Brigg's was one of those taken over by Lincoln-based Lindsey County Council’s Public Assistance Committee. It became known as the Crosslands Hostel.
Demolition of the former workhouse buildings was carried in the 1970s ahead of redevelopment by council social services. 

Also seen (top) in our bird's eye view taken circa 50 years ago are the extensive Monument garage premises then run by W. Sass - beyond the Monument roundabout. Sass's departed the scene in the early 1980s but the showroom is still in use for car sales. Other buildings on the site near the Monument are now in retail use, while Sass's former petrol station, adjoining Princes Street, is used as a car wash.