More information : Deben Court was built as the Plomesgate Union Workhouse for the Plomesgate Poor Law Union between 1835 and 1837. The Union, formed principally from the old Plomesgate hundred, consisted of 41 parishes with 21,000 inhabitants. The workhouse cost around £7000 to build and was designed by John Brown, a Norwich architect whose work includes a number of churches and workhouses in the region. The workhouse was designed in a double cruciform plan to house up to 400 inmates. The main entrance was on the south side of the central block, where the boardroom was located on the ground floor with the chapel above. In the central wing to the north, now demolished, were the kitchens and laundry blocks. The inmates were divided into men, women, boys and girls with each group having their own dormitory, dining room, day room and a yard. In December 1837 there were 160 inmates, most of whom were able bodied but out of work, the rest were either aged, infirm, orphans, insane or widows with children or illegitimate children and their mothers. The Master from 1837-1853 was John Moor with an annual salary of £25. By 1839, separate single-storey buildings were constructed to the east for elderly men and women, each incorporating a pest house. An additional block to the north was constructed comprising a stables and probationary wards for men and women.
The 1881 census records Mr and Mrs Mason as the Master and Matron, living in the separate Master's house to the north-west, and four other members of staff including a schoolmistress and nurse. There were 123 inmates at the time, mostly from the local area, ranging in age from 7 months to 82 years.
Extra bathrooms were built in 1900. One of the single-storey blocks for the elderly was extended with a two-storey range to the east in 1906 to form a larger infirmary. Up until World War I, the numbers of children and vagrants increased considerably, but following the war it became national policy to 'board out' healthy children, and although the numbers of vagrants increased, the overall gradual decline in inmates led to the closure of the workhouse in 1936. In 1938, part of the workhouse was used to accommodate child refugees from the Spanish Civil War for about a year. The rest of the building was used for storing seaside equipment from Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. During WWII the building was used for various army units including contingents from the Engineers and Tank Corps and those rescued from Dunkirk.
In 1945 proposals were drawn up by a Melton architect, A. Mullins, for the local council to adapt the buildings for council housing. At the time, the buildings were described as having 35 rooms on the ground floor, 30 on the first floor and 14 rooms and bathrooms on the second floor, and were described as dilapidated, with windows, roofs, doors and fixtures needing attention. By 1949 the workhouse had been converted into flats, resulting in wholesale internal re-ordering, replacement of fenestration and doors, and the demolition of the central north wing and the linking single- storey ranges, which partly defined the yards. The rest of the yard walls were truncated. Garage blocks were erected against the north boundary of the site where the inmates' burial ground was located. One of the buildings for the elderly to the east was demolished at the time of conversion or shortly after. More recently, the Master's House has been comprehensively reconfigured internally and re-fenestrated. Some modifications were made to the main building in the 1990s.
Deben Court is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond in an Elizabethan style, with slate-covered gable roofs and many chimneys, some with moulded brick or stone details. The main building and southern wings are three storeys high with brick dormers beneath gablets at the upper floor level. The wings to the north are of two storeys. The gable ends of the main range, wings and dormers have moulded brick detail and shouldered parapets with stone copings. All of the windows are mid 20th century metal casements, mostly in altered openings, with straight segmental brick heads. The doors are 20th century in date.
The surviving buildings form a double cruciform plan comprising the long central range aligned east-west, and corresponding wings to the north and south positioned off-centre to the east and west. The main elevation faces south and has a principal gable projecting from the centre, flanked by two ground-floor porches, each with a gable and 20th century entrance door. In the angle between the main range and the wings lie the entrances to the mid 20th century stair wells, each serving a set of residential units. The rear (north) elevation of the main range and north wings are plainer and each has a number of blocked window openings. Elements of the single-storey buildings which defined the yards remain attached to the wings but have been remodelled; most have been demolished.
Internally, the plan-form and fixtures and fittings of the residential units are entirely mid 20th century in date. Nothing remains of the workhouse layout or fixtures, including the board room and chapel. Some tie beams are apparent, and where observed, the roof structure comprises a ridge piece and rafters which may be original.
The infirmary:
The former infirmary is a detached two-storey block lying to the south-east of the main building. It comprises a lower-storey range of the 1830s and a taller 1906 extension at the east end, the latter with a hipped roof at the rear. The building is constructed in the same style as the main building, but does not have dormers and has been extended to the north. Most of the windows are uPVC replacements.
Internally, the mid 19th century cast-iron ribs of the roof are exposed in the lower range. The 1906 addition retains its picture rails and other joinery and the plain, contemporary staircase.
The Master's House:
The two-storey detached former Master's House (now known as No.1 Deben Court) is located to the north-west of the main range. It is constructed in the same style as the main building, in red brick with a shallow, slated, gable roof with a central ridge stack and stone copings to the gable ends. A single-storey addition to the west may be later in date. All of the windows have been replaced with uPVC alternatives, some in altered openings. The principal elevation faces south, overlooking the workhouse. It has a central doorway flanked to the right (east) by a 20th century french window and a window to the left. There are three windows at the first floor. The north elevation has an entrance in the single-storey addition, two ground-floor and three first-floor windows. The east elevation has one enlarged window at the ground and first floor levels.
Internally, the building has been comprehensively remodelled in the late 20th century and does not retain any fixtures and fittings pertaining to
John Brown was the County Surveyor of Norfolk. He is credited with the design of the double-cruciform plan, a further variant on Kempthorne's 'square' model, comprising a central boardroom and kitchen block flanked by miniature square-plan complexes, each with separate ranges for males and females. Examples of workhouses by Brown, built to this plan, are at Docking and Henstead, in an austere neo-classical style, and at Colchester where the workhouse had a muted Elizabethan treatment similar to the Plomesgate buildings. None of Brown's workhouses are designated, but his plan was copied by William Mason of Ipswich for a number of his workhouses such as Stroud (Grade II,1836-40) and Kingston -on-Thames (1837-9), and by W. Watson, the architect of the Walsall (1838) and Warwick (1837-9) workhouses.
As a workhouse built soon after 1834, and an example of Brown's double-cruciform plan, Deben Court has claims to special architectural and historic interest which require careful consideration. The rush of workhouse construction after 1834 brought an opportunity for the Unions' architects to demonstrate their design skills, within the budget and scope set by the Poor Law Guardians. Strict adherence to Kempthorne's model plans was not anticipated and variations of them were usual. Designs by George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt, for example, adopted an 'improved' linear rather than a radial arrangement which bought them considerable success. In this context, Brown's double-cruciform scheme can be seen as a derivative plan, restrained by the parameters set by the Poor Law Commission, rather than a truly innovative one. Furthermore, in the case of Deben Court, the conversion of the building into residential flats in the 1940s has resulted in significant losses from the historic plan-form, notably the central north range, a key element of the plan, as well as the demolition or truncation of the single-storey ranges which enclosed the yards.
Unlike the many plain workhouses of the period, the architectural language of Deben Court has some pleasing aspects; the dormers, treatment of the gable ends and tall chimneys in a restrained 'Elizabethan' style afford some distinction to the composition. However, it lacks the aesthetic merit of similarly styled workhouses such as Donthorne's Catmose Vale Hospital (a former workhouse of 1836-7, Grade II) and Scott and Moffat's Windsor Union workhouse (1839, Grade II). Moreover, the altered openings on all elevations combined with the comprehensive internal remodelling to accommodate flats, has diminished the architectural interest of the building by attrition. No historic fixtures and fittings remain and the internal arrangement of the workhouse has been eradicated.
In assessing both the Master's House and the Infirmary, the principal consideration for both is the extent of alteration. The Master's House retains the spatial relationship with the main building; its position at the north-west corner of the complex and the orientation of the principal elevation, conveys the status of the house and its occupants clearly. However, it has been altered significantly by the insertion and alteration of openings and comprehensive interior remodelling and thus does not meet the criteria for listing. The infirmary block to the east is a comparatively rare surviving example of a contemporary infirmary block, but this significance is outweighed by the additions and alterations to it. Of these, the 1906 two-storey range and internal reworking have had a deleterious effect on the aesthetic merit of the infirmary range.
Workhouses are stark, physical reminders of the early development of the English welfare system, the most distinctive of which are designated. A full inspection of the building has been made. Although of a date when most workhouses are listed, Deben Court has been altered considerably in the mid 20th century, resulting in a significant loss of the historic plan-form and fabric. Although of local architectural and historic interest as a workhouse for the parishes which formed the Plomesgate Union, Deben Court does not satisfy the criteria for listing in a national context.
SOURCES
J Blanchflower, 'The History of Deben Court, formerly Plomesgate Union Workhouse.' Unpublished historical assessment. March 2010.
Kathryn Morrison, The Workhouse (1999)
www.institutions.org.uk , accessed 12/10/10 citing E.P Cockburn 'The Workhouse, Wickham Market, Suffolk' 1991
CONCLUSION
Deben Court does not have special architectural or historic interest and should not be added to the statutory List.
Deben Court, a former workhouse constructed between 1835-7, is not recommended for designation for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural Interest: designed by John Brown, County Surveyor of Norfolk and the architect of a number of undesignated workhouses, Deben Court does not compare favourably with listed examples executed in the same restrained Elizabethan style
* Alteration: Brown's distinctive double-cruciform plan has been altered significantly by the loss of the central north range, a key element of the plan, and the demolition or truncation of the single-storey ranges which enclosed the yards
* Interiors: as a result of the mid 20th century conversion into residential flats, the interior was extensively reconfigured and there are no historic fixtures and fittings remaining. (1) |