Kent House, Black Horse Lane, Chatteris

History of Kent House

Listed Building

Dated 1789 on plaque. House of 2 storeys and attics. … Built by the parish as a workhouse from bricks made of clay from the Slade and fired locally.

Chatteris Workhouse
Inspired by the achievements of the Wisbech Workhouse, Chatteris became one of several Fenland communities that sought to establish its own institution for relieving poverty. Although relatively little survives about its operation, its inclusion demonstrates how the workhouse movement spread rapidly across Cambridgeshire during the eighteenth century as parishes searched for more organised ways of supporting growing numbers of poor people.

Source: Michael J. Murphy, Poverty in Cambridgeshire.