Early in the 18th century the poor of Dover were cared for in several Poorhouses, the responsibility for which had passed from the Church to the State. These houses eventually came under the control of the Dover Poor Law Union which was formed in 1835. In 1836 a Union Workhouse was built at Buckland Bottom, the old name for the wide hollow which lay between Chapel Mount and Bunker's Hill, up which ran Union Road, named after the workhouse. This road has now become Coombe Valley Road. The workhouse was the very first building to be erected at Buckland Bottom and to it were transferred, not without incident, the occupants of the three Poorhouses of River, Martin and Charlton. One old man, a native of Ringwould, who had been resident at the River Poorhouse for many years, died in the van that was taking him and many aged and infirmed inmates to their new quarters the new Dover Union. The original Workhouse, costing £ 6,374. 4s.lid. was built to a plan approved by Sir Francis Head, the Poor Law Commissioner. It took the form of a quadrangle with the Board Room and Masters Offices in the front over the entrance, a small hospital against the oppo­site wall and the rest of the square being occupied by the Ward Room and Dormitories. It was very much like a prison, none of the windows afforded a view of the outside world. The control of the Union Workhouse was under a Board of Guardians.

Inmates were grouped into four classes;
1. Casuals or tramps.
2. The able bodied.
3. The aged.
4. The sick.

A tramp, applying for admis­sion was asked his name, his age, his birthplace, from where he had come and to whence he was going.
He was given a bath and kept for one day, during which he was employed in the garden, breaking stones or chopping wood. The following day the man would be dismissed with a hunk of bread and cheese and a "Way Ticket" entitling him to obtain a free drink at a specified place half way to the next Workhouse.

The Able Bodied were allowed to stay, provided they worked.
They were usually unfortunate men with neither employment nor trade. They were sometimes accompanied by their wives who were housed in a seperate part of the building and their children who were duly instructed in the Workhouse school. The women were employed in cleaning, mending and washing. The Aged were accepted and allowed to remain for the rest of their lives whilst the Sick were cared for in the Workhouse infirmary.

The Dover Union was enlarged four times between its inception in 1836 and 1903. In 1913 the Guardians decided that all children over the age of three should board out, and as the Workhouse school had been closed some time previously, the Poor Children attended Buckland School with shaven heads and grim Workhouse garments which made them the objects of Pity-In 1930 a Local Government Act was passed and the care of the poor of Dover transferred to Kent County Council, the Board of Guardians ceasing to exist. The growing powers of the Public Assistance Committee of the Kent County Council gradually relieved the Dover Workhouse of its former cases.

River Poor Workhouse Union

The River Union was formed in March, 1791, by River. This workhouse for the old, the young
and the disabled the sick, insane and idiots, women usually outnumbered the men. In July 1835 a meeting of the River Union Building Committee took place at Buckland Bottom, when the site of the new Union Workhouse was selected. At this meeting It was agreed that it should be well isolated from all other buildings, facing St. Radigund's Road. When the building was completed the Buckland Bottom Workhouse was called the New River Union but eventually the name was changed to the Dover Union.

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