Southwell Workhouse is an interesting historical building located near the town of Southwell in the English county of Nottinghamshire. Workhouses were built in the nineteenth century to house people who could not support themselves financially for various reasons. The idea of workhouses was that the parish would fund a central facility for the poor rather than send food and other assistance to their homes. The inmates of the workhouses were supervised and looked after by live-in staff.

Southwell Workhouse is a massive building that can be seen for miles around. It has Grade II listed status in recognition of the historically important architectural features that can be seen there. The workhouse, also known as Greet House, was the first of numerous workhouses that were built across the United Kingdom during the nineteenth century. The construction of Southwell Workhouse was completed in the year 1824, and it housed the local poor people until the year 1974. Other workhouses across the United Kingdom also continued to house the poor during the Twentieth Century, while the idea of a Welfare State was being developed and refined.

The original construction programme was masterminded by the Reverend John Becher who was a clergyman and a Justice of the Peace who had a great interest in caring for the poor. The Reverend John Becher also oversaw the construction of other workhouses in addition to the one at Southwell. Southwell Workhouse was built to have a wide range of facilities for the poor. These facilities included work yards, day rooms, dormitories, master's quarters, cellars and gardens. The regime at the workhouse was designed to be good enough to sustain life, but not too cushy, to encourage people to leave and fend for themselves.

There would be 158 inmates staying there at a time. The adults would be segregated into groups. These groups would consist of those who could work and those who could not sustain an occupation through which they could earn money. These categories were then divided up into male and female groups, with children in another group. Families were separated as a result of this categorization and division of the inmates. Those able to work were given work to do, children were give a basic form of education, and everyone was housed, fed and clothed. This way of running the workhouse was adopted across England in the year 1834 following the Poor Law Amendment Act became law.

Southwell Workhouse has been described by the National Trust as being the best restored workhouse in the United Kingdom. In fact the National Trust bought the building when there was the threat of Southwell Workhouse being redeveloped into residential apartments in the year 1997, so the National Trust secured emergency funding to buy Southwell Workhouse and restore the building for future generations. Many other former workhouse buildings have not been preserved and have disappeared from the English landscape. Today Southwell Workhouse has been restored to look as it did when it was originally built. This was thanks to an award of £2.25 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund that was received in the year 1999, which is when the restoration work to Southwell Workhouse began.