ST CLEMENTS: WORKHOUSE TO OUR HOUSE report.

8/11/2019 ST CLEMENTS: WORKHOUSE TO OUR HOUSE report.

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WORKHOUSE

TO OURHOUSE

A COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY PROJECT WITH SHUFFLE IN ST CLEMENTS

EXPLORING THE HERITAGE AND WEALTH OF HUMAN HISTORY FROM THE

BEGINNINGS AS AN INSTITUTION AND NOW AS A CREATIVE SHARED SPACE.WITH SUPPORT FROM THE HERITAGE LOTTERY ; SHUFFLE, QUEEN MARY

UNIVERSITY, EAST SIDE COMMUNITY HERITAGE + LOCAL PEOPLE CREATED

AN EXHIBITION, A SERIES OF ENTERTAINING EVENINGS WITH FILM AND

PERFORMANCE, AN ONLINE ORAL HISTORY WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE

FORMER ST CLEMENTS HOSPITAL - TRANSFORMED A SPACE WHICH WAS

ONCE ABOUT ISOLATION INTO ONE OF CONNECTION, MEANING + LEARNING.



INTRODUCTION

The exhibition was compiled and designed by the Shuffle team who had been working in the

grounds of the derelict, former hospital ‘St Clements’ in Mile End for the past year. Shuffle was

always concerned with the history of the building - the impact it had on individual lives and the

wider societal understandings that informed the institution initially as a Workhouse, then as an

Infirmary and finally as a Psychiatric Hospital - until it closed in 2005.

Because of the relatively recent closure there were still many people in the area who had

worked there or been patients there, as well as many people who were curious about what went

on in there. In our previous events, namely a film festival and a weekend exploring ‘the mind’

and mental illness there had been much interest by local people and others to gain a fruther

understanding of the history of the building and to address this directly.

Shuffle exists to work within spaces and communities and to make places in the city more ac-

cessible and culturally inclusive through direct use and interaction. At St Clements we set out to

do this with the Heritage Lottery Grant - with a specific conecentratuion on the heritage of the

building and bringing it (in its dereliction) to a standard of use, sufficient to hold a high quality

exhibition and to host evenings of events that captured the public’s imaginiation and explored

the theme more deeply. To do this we chose to focus on the large, formal room which after

development will become the main community space and transform it into an informative and

beautifully presented ‘ Community Living Room’. We worked with local organisations Mile EndFilms, East Side Community Heritage, Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and Queen Mary

University as well as many old patients and staff to further our programm

As well as delving deep into the history of St Clements, we took this opportunity to further

connect with the history of the surrounding area with a series of walks. For the opening of the

exhibition we worked with a Cordon Bleu trained chef to re-create the Workhouse Kitchen. The

surrounding rooms were dressed by a set designer in the tradition of the workhouse aesthetic

and the community living room became a place for performances, music and talks. For the other

evenings the proceedings were run by Mile End Films, and a short film festival was curated,

along with other comedy and cu lural acts and a presentation on ‘Psychogeography’ by IanSinclair. The following pages document this weel of happenings, which were wamrly recieved by

the community and well attended by the local community and beyond.

In addition to the live events, the reserach and presentation of the first comprehensive history

of St Clements in Mile End, we arranged for an oral history recording booth to be set up in the

exhibition and we recorded the histories of past staff and patients for our online archives. We

also created a contemplative ‘Memory Room’ for visitors to record their memories of St Clem-

ents and their feelings and/or reactions to the exhibition and events in a written format which

we compiled into a book.

Portraits of former patients and staff that accompanied the walls of the oral

history recordings room. Many new oral histories were recorded during the

exhibition from visitors stopping by and the space prompting old memories



An evocative watercolour from the London Metropolitan Archives which was one

of the historic documents shown in the exhibition. This image shows an idealised

version of the workhouse and grounds pre-construction in 1848. The Chapel and

Eastern Wing were bombed in the war and were replced with modern structures.



Bow Road 1850 with St Clements in the background. St Clements is the only re-

maining Victorian or Georgian building in the present day from this viewpoint.



The ‘Board of Guardians’ room which was originally where the owners of the workhouse dined (and the

scene of many elaborate dinners) was restored to its state as recorded in one of the photos featuring in

the exhibition from the 1920’s. The current paint job was scraped away in parts and a report compiled

and displayed about the original colourings and design of the room which was not visible from the black

and white photo.



The grand staircase leading up to the main exhibition room was complete with notes

on the architectural features from our Heritage Architect, Nicola De Quincey. Parts

of the building which will be retained were listed as well as dates and styles attrib-

uted to certain changes and embellishments.



A full report on the original colourings and design of the main ‘Board of Guardians’

room where the exhibition was held was produced showing marble effect columns

and gold cornicing.



University students reading the exhibition content during a set break in one of the

band performances in the evening.



The religious and moral arguments for the development of the Victorian institu-

tions of the Workhouse were central to the debate at the time. Today’s culture is in

opposition to many of these views and the opportunity to explore how some of the

ideas that governed the workhouse were played out in a ‘pop up kitchen’ serving

gruel , porter and adorned with slogans that would have graced the walls at the

time.



DAY TIME VISITORS - many people came to see

the exhibtion during their lunch break or as

part of their walk home. The exhibition was

laid out in chronological order and comprised

many old photographs and peices of informa-

tion about the functioning of the workhouse +

psychiatric hospital. The exhition also featured

an oral history room and a memory room for

people to contribute their understanding or

lived experience of the place.

Browsing time usually took between 30 mins -

1 hour.



NIGHT TIME VISITORS - During the evening

music, film and talks complemented the exhibi-

tion. The atmospheric light and interactive

events saw the building and history come alive

for people as a strange discovery in the long

- cold february nights - in a part of Mile End

where there is a distinct lack of cultural events

in the evening.



Photographs were taken when inmates admitted into the workhouse for the re-

cords.



Once a place of social segregation and isolation - the Community Living Room and

the exhibition ‘Workhouse to Ourhouse’ meant local people could take ownership of

this space steeped in history and create something new and hopeful for the future

whilst remembering the near and distant past.

ST CLEMENTS: WORKHOUSE TO OUR HOUSE report.

Documents

Transcript of ST CLEMENTS: WORKHOUSE TO OUR HOUSE report.