Headley Gilbert Union, Hampshire

Headley Gilbert Union was an incorporation of the three parishes of Headley, Bramshott, and Kingsley, under Gilbert's Act of 1782 which allowed adjacent parishes to set up workhouses for the elderly and infirm and children. The agreement to form the union was formally registerd on 19th May, 1794, and the the union erected a House of Industry on Liphook Road to the south of Headley in 1794-5.

Headley workhouse site, 1869.

In November 1830, during the "Captain Swing" riots, a mob attacked the Headley workhouse and also the nearby one at Selborne. In both cases, the local parsons agreed to halve the income they collected from tithes.

Headley House of Industry from the north-west, 2001.

It continued in use as a workhouse until 1869 when all remaining Gilbert Unions were abolished. Headley then became part of the Alton Poor Law Union. The building has now been converted for residential use. In the 1970s, the house was popular as a recording venue for rock groups such as Genesis, Bad Company, and Led Zeppelin who wrote and recorded the song Stairway to Heaven there.

Records

Hampshire Record Office, Sussex Street, Winchester SO23 8TH.

Headley Gilbert Union, Hampshire

Records

Links