Poor House (1)
This flint rubble cottage was once the parish poorhouse for the village of Chidham. The poorhouse was the place where destitute members of the community were housed and fed at the expense of those who were slightly better-off. This is where you would end up if you were orphaned or widowed - but only if you were born here; if you came from some other village then, on the death of your husband or your parents, you could be sent back.
Parishes were inevitably reluctant to accept responsibility for outsiders - or, indeed, for anyone who was a burden on society - and if they could wriggle out of the situation they would. This sometimes led to the division of a family. Take, for example, the woman who was born in Havant but who married a son of the soil of Chidham and moved to a new home. Here she gave birth to a daughter. When her man died, the woman could no longer afford to feed herself and her child - and so she was sent packing; she was the responsibility of her native parish, not of the good people of Chidham, thank-you very much. The infant, on the other hand, having been born in the husband's village, was not welcome in Havant. Thus, by a cruel and incompetent twist of the law, the two were forcibly separated.