Barham

Barham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The village is on the River Gipping, Surrounded by: Great Blakenham, Baylham, Coddenham, Henley and Claydon, and is on the A14 road about six miles north of Ipswich. Barham has one pub, The Sorrel Horse and Barham is also known for the Gaps Fishing lakes situated next to the Barham Picnic site on Pesthouse Lane.

A local Act of 1765 established the Bosmere and Claydon Hundreds Incorporation of 35 parishes. The following year saw the Incorporation build a "House of Industry" on a 20-acre site at Barham. It was a H-shaped red brick building of two storeys with attics. Construction of the building cost £10,000, accommodate 400 inmates and was built between Workhouse Lane and Pesthouse Lane standing adjacent to the site of the Barham Picnic area. The Bosmere and Claydon Union Workhouse building was demolished in 1963 ending the 198-year history. During the First World War, the workhouse premises were occupied by troops and prisoners of war. It then became a residential re-training centre for unemployed ex-servicemen, some receiving 'handyman' training and the rest being prepared for work on farms overseas. In 1929, it became one of a new type of Transfer Instructional Centres being set up by the Ministry of Labour for 'reconditioning' unemployed men who were said to have gone 'soft' by being out of work. Under the threat of losing their unemployment benefit, men were sent to the Centres and given hard physical work. The Second World War returned the site back into housing prisoners of war. Many of the men captured by the British army and sent to the Barham Workhouse were of Italian origin.

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