Llanfyllin Workhouse

This morning I went to Llanfyllin Workhouse as part of the National Heritage open days.

It was a grey and wet day which suited the building and it's history. We had a guided tour of the building and grounds which is being renovated slowly. It was built in 1839 for the poor of the district and must have been a very hard life for the inmates with families split up and poor food and conditions.

It was a retirement home after being a workhouse and when the trust bought, it the developer had stripped everything of value - floorboards, heating, fireplaces and much more. The trust has to find over £3,000 per month just for bills for mortgage, energy etc. before trying to find money for renovation. They have various functions and events to stay afloat, it must be a very difficult task .  It will be well worth the work as it's a beautiful as well as historic building. At the moment they're trying to raise £50,000 to repair the roof.

The inmates must have been frozen in winter as we were cold inside the workhouse (they don't have heating). It was much warmer when we got outside!

It's a very interesting building to visit but would have been terrible to be a pauper forced to live there.