Workhouse dead remembered in naming tribute
A socially distanced memorial walk took place at the opening of the Bathscape Walking Festival to remember those who died in poverty in the workhouse.
Poetry and folk music accompanied the reading of hundreds of names from the Victorian burial register at the Bath Union Workhouse Burial Ground on Wells Road, Odd Down.
The walk was part of an ongoing programme, Walking the Names, reciting the names of those who died in poverty in the workhouse.
Around 3,000 bodies lie in unmarked graves in a field without a memorial just off the Wellsway.
Walking the Names is a group of local people, including some with ancestors buried on the site.
The group, led by walking artist Richard White and writer John Payne, has been visiting the burial ground every first Sunday of the month.
The names of the workhouse dead are read aloud to the sound of the workhouse bell. The bell is housed in the entrance to St Martin’s Hospital.
Walkers and readers were joined by musicians Bath Jubilee Waits who played a set of tunes from songs of the early 19th century. John performed a poem from his cycle of workhouse poems.
John said: “For several months, we were doing this in our own back gardens and then sending in recordings to Richard White.
“We have reached 1877 and still have 22 years of names to read, as the burial ground was not closed until 1899.
“My own great-grandparents, Charles and Anne Payne, died in the workhouse and are buried here.
“Our long term aim is a permanent memorial.”
Richard White said: “We are creating a kind of ‘poor’ memorial for these people, whose only crime was their poverty.”