Based on a wide range of sources, Pauper Palaces (first published in 1978) is a stimulating analysis of the impact of the Poor Law in Norfolk which indicates the significance which workhouses—the 'pauper palaces' of the title—had in this locality. The study takes a pioneering approach in using a contextual analysis to reveal the economic, social, and political pressures which shaped the system of poor relief. In rejecting a standard administrative approach to nineteenth century poor law history, a fresh perspective on the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 is provided. The author believes that this can no longer be regarded as a major watershed which divided two epochs of social policy since the continuity of practice between the old and new Poor Law is shown to have been substantial at the local level. The 1834 Act retained a precarious local system of financing poor relief which undermined national attempts at poor law reform. The book shows that, in spite of the theoretically centralised administration of the new Poor Law, areas like Norfolk retained substantial autonomy in practice.
Dr Digby is concerned about differentiating theory from practice and myth from reality, and in doing so she directs new light on the Poor Law. She suggests that inside Norfolk's 'pauper palaces' the sick, the young, and the old discovered that the workhouse could be compatible with social welfare. This state of affairs is contrasted with that outside the workhouse, where the Poor Law became a class instrument by which farmer-guardians controlled both wages and relief for the able-bodied labourers.
Although the book deals particularly with Norfolk, the treatment and many of the findings are applicable to other rural areas in England and Wales. Case histories of paupers, an analysis of changing attitudes towards the use of poor relief, together with an account of pauper education, provide additional interest in this interpretation of an important aspect of social history.