| Description | The House Yard committee was formed in 1868 by the Board of Guardians. Consisting of seven members, it was created to oversee the running of the Union's stone-breaking yards, 'with power to open the one in Icknield Port Road when they think proper and to make such regulations in reference thereto and the men to be employed as they may deem requisite.' (see GP B/2/3/4/1) From the minutes, it appears that the Dudley Road workhouse already had a stone yard, where the able-bodied male paupers were set to work. The yard on Icknield Port Road may have been opened to deal with a rise in the number of inmates.
This method of setting the paupers hard physical tasks may be seen as a precursor to the Birmingham Guardians' adoption of the 'Poplar Method' in its own test house, set up around 1879 (see GP B/2/3/6-8). The volume is not indexed. |