Barking Workhouse plaque

A ‘Free School’ for local children was established in Barking by Sir James Cambell in 1642, a short distance west of the ancient site of Barking Abbey. In 1722 a workhouse opened nearby and by the 1770s, paupers were housed in Barking’s workhouse with duties including winding silk, picking oakum and making mops. The space proved too small and in 1786, Parliament passed The Barking Workhouse Act which transferred responsibility from the parish to ‘Directors of the Poor’. The Directors took over Cambell’s school, and funds were raised for a new workhouse which also included school rooms. The new workhouse opened in 1788. It was one of the largest in Essex, with an imposing Neo-Palladian frontage.

The pediment over the main entrance had a Portland stone plaque with a Latin inscription is thought to translate to:
“This house, of honourable industry, was built and paid for, by the distinguished members of Barking Parish, to restrain the disorder of the wicked and improve the spirit of the poor, for the glory of God.
178[6] - the 26th year of the reign of [King] George III.”

By 1841, the old workhouse had been converted to shops and in 1872 a new school building was constructed which in the 1960s moved to a new site overlooking Abbey Green (St Margaret’s Church of England School). The old workhouse was pulled down in 1936 and its plaque was salvaged and now lies in pieces in the kitchen garden of Eastbury Manor House.

The former site of Barking Workhouse is now occupied by an Asda Superstore.

The plaque was originally composed of three separate pieces of Portland stone with a larger central stone bearing the inscription and two taller and narrower flanking stones. The central stone and one of the flanking stones had split in two. The bottom right section of the central stone was missing. The stones were significantly weathered and the cut letters had been infilled and painted white. This inadvertently preserved the letters in good condition and minimal deepening/recutting was required to enhance the inscription’s legibility.

The plaque has been restored by Cliveden Conservation with the inscription painted black. It has been mounted on the wall outside the school on Abbey Green, along with an interpretation panel and a mosaic of the HOLT logo created by artist, Tamara Froud.

It was unveiled in June 2026 by Barking and Dagenham Mayor, Cllr Manzoor Hussain and pupils from St Margaret's CofE Primary School, nearly 240 years to the day that The Barking Workhouse Act was passed.

This project was supported by Heritage of London Trust, BeFirst, the Jones Day Foundation and Weston Homes.

Workshop images thanks to Cliveden Conservation.