Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats

In 1897 the Manchester and Chorlton Joint Workhouse Committee set up a labour test-house and casual wards in a former cotton mill at Tame Street, Ancoats. The premises were rebuilt 1900-1905 after the mill burnt down. 

WORKHOUSE BUILDINGS, ANCOATS. The new buildings of the Chorlton and Manchester Joint Workhouse in Ancoats are nearing completion. The institution includes a test-house and casual wards, the test-house being intended for able-bodied persons who have become chargeable to the poor rates, and to whom it is undesirable.to grant privileges which are commonly enjoyed in workhouses where adults and children, the healthy and the infirm, are alike received. The test-house has accommodation for 230 persons. The test- house and the casual wards together cover an area of about 2.5 acres. The buildings are in nine different blocks—three pavilions for the male casuals, two pavilions for the female casuals, two test-house pavilions for males, one test-house pavilion for females, with the administrative building and the receiving block, with officers’ quarters attached. Included in the area are the labour yards and the usual 50 feet space between the pavilions. The site is bounded by Harrison-street on the north, Stone-street on the east, Tame-street on the south, and Kennedy-street and the branch canal on the west. The entrance to the casual wards is in Tame-street, and that to the test- house in Harrison-street. The architect is Mr. A. J. Murgatroyd, of Manchester. There are thirteen baths for the casuals, and six or eight for the inmates of the test-house. A fire-escape staircase is provided in each pavilion. The highest occupied building is four stories. There is a clock tower, which contains a water- storage tank of 1,500 gallons capacity. There is accommodation for 1,450 casuals and for 230 inmates of the test-house, and it is expected that the cost will be about £40,000. The builders are Messrs. Burgess & Galt, of Ardwick, and Mr. Robert Carlyle, of Old Trafford. [Builder 20 May 1905 Page 549-550]  

1901            Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Erection of Stone-breaking Sheds.

Reference      Manchester City News 12 October 1901 – contracts
Reference      Manchester Guardian Saturday 12 October 1901 Page 3 contracts

1901            Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Wash-house, Laundry and Engineer’s Shed.

Reference      Manchester City News Saturday 9 March 1901 Page 8 - contracts
Reference      Building News 15 March 1901 Page 358

1901             Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Administration Department

Reference      Building News 6 December 1901 Page xiii

1902-1903    Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Receiving and Casual Blocks.

Reference      Manchester Guardian 9 June 1903 page 1
Reference      British Architect 27 June 1902 Page x - tenders
Reference      British Architect 24 July 1903 Page viii

1903            Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Demolition of 25 Cottages

Reference      Manchester Guardian 16 May 1903 page 4

1904            Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Chapel and Porter’s Lodge. 

Reference     Building News 29 July 1904 page 168 - contracts
Reference     British Architect 2 September 1904 Page x - tenders
Reference     Building News 22 July 1904 Page xiii (Tenders)
Reference     Manchester Guardian Saturday 16 July 1904 page 4

1905           Tame Street Workhouse, Ancoats: Extension to Female Casuals Washhouse,

Reference     Builder 1 April 1905 (Contracts)