MY late maternal grandmother often used to call St Peter’s Hospital ‘The Spike’.

As a youngster it intrigued me, but it wasn’t until later in life that I realised why. I discovered that strange colloquial term of hers was actually a nod to the building’s past.

Prior to it becoming the caring NHS establishment that we know today, it was a workhouse.

Opened in 1873, it was a place dreaded by my grandmother and her contemporaries – somewhere they didn’t want to end up, hence (it turned out I wrongly supposed) the nickname – representing something sharp and somehow coldly menacing.

Although food and shelter were provided to the unfortunate inmates, those who were able-bodied were, in return, expected to perform menial tasks to earn their somewhat frugal keep.

Amongst the monotonous, often pointless, responsibilities, there was the job of teasing out rope fibres, using an implement like a large metal nail that was known as a ‘Spike’.

So perhaps that was the true derivation of the name. Others, however, have suggested that it is comes from spikes on the top of the building’s fence. The trouble with that theory is that, although there are contemporary Dickensian looking cast-iron railings and main gates fronting Spital Road, they aren’t really “spiky” as such.

Prior to the construction of the Spital Road workhouse, we know that there was an earlier establishment on Market Hill.

The short stretch of railings and associated gate pillars alongside that predecessor building, look much more the part.

Nowadays, the imposing structure is a grade two row of converted houses called ‘Hillside’.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

  • The building as it is today

However, it served as a workhouse from as early as 1719 (when it was established under Thomas Plume’s will) until the opening of the replacement building in Spital Road.

You can’t really mention the story of the Market Hill workhouse without reference to the excellent study by Peggy Edmond. Published in 1999 (with all proceeds going to St Clare’s Hospice), ‘Maldon Workhouse 1719-1875’, is a very carefully researched, detailed account of its evolution in four distinct stages.

The first, from 1719 to 1835, represents a single, two-storey block that served All Saints', St Peter’s and St Mary’s and was run by appointed officers of those parishes.

The second, circa 1750, involved the construction of a western block to the rear to accommodate a growing number of inmates.

Then, thirdly, from 1835 until 1873, it was known as the Union Workhouse and was open not just to the Maldon parishes, but also had some spaces available for those from the outlying villages.

Its management was, at that time, the responsibility of a so-called board of guardians.

Finally, the fourth stage saw the sale of the redundant building and alteration, by John Sadd in 1874, to numbers 1 to 5/6 Hillside.

That last phase included the demolition of a higher front wall and the installation of those very distinctive railings.

So, unless they were re-used, they might not solve the mystery of ‘The Spike’ after all.

That said, rather intriguingly, the old building was still referred to as ‘The Spike’ for many years after its sale.

Today, the railings are an integral part of the overall appearance of this very historically important building.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

  • The railings outside the building

Sadly, however, they have suffered over time – particularly as a result of a modern age that is somewhat marred by a relentless, constant flow of traffic up and down the hill.

The wall and railings have been knocked down on a number of occasions and back in April 2020 it happened again, with another car crashing into the wall.

The resultant damaged state not only detracts from the setting of this important listed building, it is also an eyesore in a conservation area at one of the historic gateways to our town.

Repair and restoration is absolutely essential, otherwise we will appear to be giving way to a destructive, modern era, that could almost be described as somewhat Orwellian in nature.

And talking of Orwell, by a strange coincidence, in 1931, he wrote an essay about his own experience of staying in a workhouse.

When it appeared in print he entitled it, ironically enough ‘The Spike’!