Now known as Dales Warehouse, this building was constructed in 1791 as the Louth House of Industry. It was built to provide a workhouse for the town under the old Poor Law, and was built of red brick with cogged brick eaves and features a pantile roof with a truncated end stack. The main range fronts on to Northgate, and is of three storeys with part basement, and a central carriageway allowing access to the small courtyard framed by the rear wings. Although fairly recently built, the lack of rooms for the sick within the building was noted in 1797, when the building was described as having 'one large lodging-room for the men, and another for the women, each containing 14 beds, which are partitioned from each other by deal-boards at each end, and on one side: the view of a sick neighbour is thereby, in a great measure, obstructed; but, to a feeling mind, the sense of hearing must frequently convey very disagreeable ideas; the smell must, also, be frequently offensive.' The passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 led to the building of a new Union Workhouse in Louth in 1837 (see MLI86907), and the subsequent closure of this House of Industry. The building then seems to have been used for a variety of commercial uses, becoming a butcher's premises, residence and warehouse as its last commercial use. The building has subsequently been converted to use as flats. The building is comparatively little altered from its original form, with relatively small alterations in the mid 19th and late 20th centuries. It is a rare survival of an Old Poor Law workhouse in a market town, and even rarer with the survival of the nearby former Union Workhouse. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate entry in the National Heritage List for England. {1}{2}{3}