Hi John, Paul `s two recommended sites are very good ones. The following are notes made on the overseers records from Fincham in Norfolk , which I made some years ago and which might simplify things . Money was collected from those in the village who could pay the poor law rate, or tax. Sometimes there were churchwardens and local constables or stewards who administered this money. They were usually elected or chosen from the tenant farmer / tradesmen in the village. If you were in need, your husband had died, you had 8 children and your husband had no work, if you were old , ill , whatever, you could apply for parish relief. You were then assessed, and a rate paid to you. Sometimes if you could earn your parish relief. Children were paid for killing vermin , jackdaws, whatever, and the wife might be paid to sit with an old person, to help lay out a corpse, to help with a pregnancy, the husband might be set to clearing ditches or some other community service. If the poor law rate was insufficient, then you and your family went to the workhouse, and you could be hired out from there by local farmers seasonally, and people did spend time in the workhouses, but the aim was to get you out and back on your feet again. The overseers would sometimes pay for a child to be apprenticed. If a family wished to move to a different village, they would be assessed and if found work-able, then a settlement certificate would be issued which stated that the new village would be responsible for their keep if they fell on hard times, and a copy of this certificate was sent to their village of origin. If this assessment found against the family, then a removal order was issued and the family had to go back to their village of origin which was responsible for all those born within its boundaries . The overseers would also pay for a funeral in full. All in all, it was far from ideal, but the workhouse was at least a roof over your head and food, however appalling and basic. The alternative was to die of starvation in a ditch. Hope this helps . Yrs Elizabeth