History
Allensbank was built as the Narberth Poor Law Union workhouse in 1838. The Union was formed under the 1834 Act to cover 50 Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire parishes. At first three existing poorhouses within the Union continued to be used for the provision of indoor relief, but in 1837 the Narberth guardians resolved to construct a single workhouse. The Haverfordwest Union workhouse was already in process of construction, to the designs of William Owen, architect, of Haverfordwest. The Narberth guardians resolved to adopt the same design. It's construction is the local stone, designed in the simplified Tudor style generally considered appropriate for workhouses. The Narberth guardians were keen that Mr Owen should reduce any ornamentation of the building to a minimum.
The order to build Narberth workhouse for 150 inmates was issued on the 12th of May 1838. After a tendering false start J Thomas and Son of Narberth were eventually selected as contractors. Their tender of £2220 was accepted, payment to be in four instalments. Completion was scheduled for the 1st of December 1838 but the work ran over time. The perimeter walls were not completed before the builder was dismissed in April 1839; they were later completed by another builder, William Lloyd. The guardians had to borrow money commercially to pay the contractor, and their disputes with him over unfinished work went to arbitration. The guardians met in their boardroom at the new workhouse for the first time on the 10th of June 1839.
Before its completion, on the 16th of January 1839, a mob attempted to burn the workhouse down, committing the guardians to extra expense in employing special constables to protect it. A more serious attack on the building was apparently made in 1843, when a mob said to consist of 600 Rebecca Rioters were only repulsed by the arrival of the Castlemartin Yeomanry; but the Assistant Poor Law Commissioner, William Day, denied that any serious incident had occurred.
After the repeal of the Poor Law the old workhouse, Allensbank, became a County Council Old People's Home. It was sold into private ownership in 1965 and closed in 1972. It is now run as holiday accommodation.
The original ground storey layout of the workhouse is fully known. As usual in this generation of workhouses, the establishment contained all the disparate elements of orphanage, house of industry, vagrant lock-up, and geriatric care. The front range (at N) contained the main entrance and office, the guardians' boardroom, the schoolteacher's room, male and female receiving wards and a bathroom. There was also a small windowless punishment cell named the black hole. In the middle range of the building there were day rooms for men, women, boys and girls respectively, and a foul ward. In the rear range there were a further day room for women, the nursery, and a day ward for old women, plus the vagrant ward and wash-house. In the centre of the building was a dining room and in the two linking sections the master's accommodation and the kitchens. Latrines and washing troughs were located in the four courtyards.