Ilkley author helps Michael Sheen unearth workhouse links (From Ilkley Gazette)

Ilkley author helps Michael Sheen unearth workhouse links

8:00am Tuesday 23rd November 2010 in Local news By Suzy Poole

A researcher who has dedicated years to the study of workhouses has helped an actor learn more about his family history as part of a television documentary.

Ilkley’s Peter Higginbotham is to appear on the BBC Wales programme Coming Home, being screened next Wednesday, sharing his expertise on workhouses with actor Michael Sheen.

Best known for his screen portrayals of ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair, Michael set out to trace his Welsh family roots for the programme.

Researchers discovered that his great-grandmother Margaret Fisher and her children had been inmates of the Neath Workhouse in south Wales during the 1870s.

As a long-time researcher and author on the subject of workhouses, Mr Higginbotham was asked to take part in the programme, describing to Michael what conditions must have been like for his ancestors in the workhouse.

Mr Higginbotham said: “Naturally I was only too pleased to oblige and met Michael outside the remains of the workhouse building, now mostly occupied by a vet’s practice.

“Among other things, I was able to reveal to him that the water supply to the workhouse was so bad that they sometimes had to take water out of the nearby canal to use for the cooking.”

Language was the source of more difficulties, he says. The medical officer at the workhouse could not speak Welsh, while many of the inmates spoke Welsh and no English.

This communication breakdown is thought to have led to the tragic death of an infant at the workhouse.

The programme will air on BBC1 Wales from 7.30pm, and is available to Freesat viewers on channel 964.

Mr Higginbotham has been sharing his research online at his website for 10 years. He has also written cookbooks featuring original recipes from workhouses and prisons in the past.