The Guildford Spike

Hackney Workhouse, Homerton Hight Street: Old Casual Ward

Hackney Workhouse, Homerton Hight Street: Old Casual Ward

Bring back memories of the good old-fashioned British seaside holiday with our original cutout board. It’s so authentic you can almost hear the seagulls and smell the fish and chips. Traditional peep boards make for a fun photo opportunity and ours come in a huge range of themes that are a delight to discover. The original boards in our collection are designed and created in-house by our most talented team of craftspeople. They are hand painted on a high-quality wooden board for a completely…

Operating Theatre at Warren Road Hospital, pre WWII.

The Spike finally closed as a vagrants hostel in May 1962 and its closure was regretted by many Gentlemen of the Road - especially the group shown here in an article from the Surrey Advertiser.

During its years of Hospital use (1962-1996) the Spike had many uses including document storage, Telephone Frame Room, A/V Training Suite, Maintenance offices and stores. This shot is circa late 1970s.

The Guildford Spike as it is today. View from Undercroft upto Vagrants entrance.

View from Warren Road. The Spike is now a Heritage and Community Centre. The Heritage Centre is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Outside the work cells. One of the jobs given to those unable or not wanting to pay for a night's sleep was wood chopping. Old railway sleepers were purchased by the workhouse and quite likely sawn into blocks. These would then be put in the Spike's work cells for the inmates to chop up as their task for the day.