The Spike Heritage Centre (Guildford)

The Spike is an historic workhouse building in Guildford.  It is open to members of the public and there is a community centre which also has public visitors.  There are pockets of outside space including garden areas, and we like to keep these areas looking as attractive as possible for our visitors.  We are also keen to encourage wildlife on our site and have recently added some new features.  The building and garden need maintaining and we have an excellent team doing this but with more areas to look after, some extra hands would be great.  If you like mending and repairing, gardening and creating lovely spaces, please do come to The Spike.  We need assistance usually on a Tuesday, but occasionally other days.

The Spike Heritage Centre is one of the few buildings remaining from Guildford's Workhouse in the Poor Law era, which housed the forgotten classes of Victorian England.  The Vagrants and Casual Ward, known as The Spike was built in 1906 to house vagrants and low paid workers.  After the Poor Laws ended in 1929, it continued as a night hostel until the mid 1960s. The NHS took over the site becoming St Lukes Hospital, operational until the mid 1990s when the new Royal Surrey hospital was opened.  The majority of the workhouse site was redeveloped, but due to the efforts of local campaigners, the Casual Ward was saved and remains as a historic building with lots of stories to tell. Individual visitors and groups are welcome to explore this unique building with guides providing the insight about how the poor were treated in a bygone age.