Laws passed during the reign of Elizabeth I (1597, 1601) made the parish responsible for looking after the poor. Each parish (the area served by a parish church) had to appoint an “Overseer of the Poor”. It was the job of the Overseer to collect money (Poor Rate), which could be given to people from the parish who needed it. This money was called “Poor Relief”. 

Some parishes built workhouses, where poor, old and sick people could stay. There was a parish workhouse in Tweedmouth in 1777 that had room for 36 people. Berwick Workhouse (see plan) was opened in 1803. The parish converted an old sack factory to house the poor. 

In 1834 the poor laws were changed (or amended). These changes are often referred to as the New Poor Law. The new laws grouped parishes together into Poor Law Unions (there were seventeen parishes in the Berwick Poor Law Union). Each Union had to build a workhouse and could only give relief to poor people at the workhouse. Poor Law Unions were run by a group of people called the “Board of Guardians”. 

In the workhouse, men and women were strictly separated. Children were also separated from adults, although very young children stayed with their mother. You can see on the plan that the workhouse buildings and open spaces are divided up between men and women, girls and boys.  

Inmates who were physically able were expected to work. At Berwick Workhouse, men had to break rocks (see “stone yard” on plan). This was also work that was given to criminals in prison at the time. If workhouse inmates refused to work, they were not given food. Women and children would have been given lighter work, possibly in the wash-house cleaning clothes and bedding, or in the cook-house making meals. 

Not all inmates stayed in the workhouse for long periods of time; some just stayed for a night or two. Homeless people, known as vagrants, sometimes used the workhouse as a place to stay while they were passing through. They had to work but were given a bed for a few nights and their meals. Lots of people passed through Berwick, travelling between England and Scotland to look for work.