Built in 1775, the Gressenhall farm was originally a house of the industry until it was modified in 1836 to a union workhouse under the new poor law act. Housing the poorest of the population, inmates worked in exchange for food, clothing and a paupers bed. Men would work the farm whilst the women would spin hemp or dressing wool under the ever-watchful eyes of Master James. W.Moore and his wife, Margaret Moore.

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The hours were long, and the harvesting machines that now sit silently in the halls has reminders of appalling poverty resting uneasily alongside them.

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Working-class poverty was a major problem, and once committed to the workhouse, the guardians would segregate families, with husbands, wives, and children sleeping in separate dormitories. However, accommodation was provided for respectable married couples, now known as Cherry Tree Cottage. There were ‘special areas’ provided for women of a bad character, ensuring they were separated from other inmates, but the children benefited; they received an education, something they would not have gotten otherwise.

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Thousands of people walk through the doors of the now museum every year, but with some inmates having been born, lived, and worked for their entire lifespan at Gressenhall, it seems a few of them have decided to stay, still toiling away at their daily tasks, many years after they should be resting in peace.

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The cries of children have been heard, along with footsteps that echo down empty corridors, shadows have been seen, along with items that like to move on their own.

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Noises are heard regularly coming from the direction of what was the punishment cell. A cold, dark, damp room that nobody wanted to spend any time in, but there is one spirit said to roam the building that spent a lot of time there.

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Harriet was 12 years old, had a troubled past, and was strong. She regularly disobeyed the guardians and housemaster. She destroyed food, used foul language, damaged property and set her bed on fire, she was a force to reckon with, and because of this, she was put into the punishment cell, sometimes for a day or two, in the hope she would learn the error of her ways.