This splendidly cross-eyed face peers out over the entrance to the old Westwood workhouse and infirmary in Beverley, a place where the poor and destitute were housed and put to work. Over the years the workhouse was closed and the infirmary became a NHS hospital. Despite intense local opposition the hospital is due to close and be replaced by a new state of the art building which I bet will not have a sculpture like this welcoming patients.
A great face, I love the way the Victorians went to some lengths to add some art to many of the building they erected. Interesting to note the workhouse called the people there inmates.
ReplyDeleteI suspect some of our politicians regret the closing of the workhouses. Though I find this attitude odd when they closed most of the asylums and cast the patients out to "care in the community".