Powys Digital History Project

Archive documents on view
Care of the poor

For more on care of
the poor and on
workhouses see our
pages on
Rhayader
and Machynlleth

There are many surviving records which show clearly the extent to which coping with the very poorest members of the community has been a dominant concern of the authorities for much of our history.
Sadly, however, these records also show that this concern was mostly aimed at passing the problem on to another parish, or at best at spending the absolute minimum on their welfare.

The links below are to pages on some aspects of this subject.

  The medieval poor Rogues and vagrants
  The Settlement Laws Paying for the poor
  Prison for debt The workhouses