If you would like to take part in this project read on.

You will need to register, this is a simple process. To register: Click here to register your pauper for the project.

Those who wish to take part in the Pauper Project  will endeavour to:

  1. Help to tell the story of how people became Workhouse Inmates.  

  2. The people who worked at the Chesterfield Union Workhouse and with the Pauper

  3. To contribute, help and increase a sense of community and enable more information to be recorded, especially the prospects of researching the paupers stories.  

  4. Contribute to the main project’s book/ booklet, and other media options from the research. ie, exhibitions etc. Focus on.

  5. The lives / heritage of the local community who were inmates of the Workhouse opposite the Church. Learn who they were, what circumstances caused them to end up in the Workhouse, what families were doing, what were the health issues etc. 

What the project will do and what are the benefits?

Poverty today is still a real issue and relevant to the local area which the project will make sensitive comparisons. 

1) To uncover new stories and information about the site and how it was used, potentially reaching further back into time. 

2) The community will learn more about how churchyards can be important refuges for wildlife and this particular type of heritage too.

3) Enable volunteers to learn new skills in family history and local history research and will volunteer their time.

 We anticipate the project to last over a period of 12 months.