Although the workhouse was an Elizabethan innovation, the main impetus for their growth was the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. This act required parishes to form unions that would provide a central workhouse which would classify the poor by age, sex and medical condition to provide poor relief only to those who were admitted to the workhouse. All poor relief outside the workhouse was to be stopped. The Newport Board of Guardians, the body appointed to oversee the running of the Newport Union, first met on 2nd August 1836.The Chairman of the Board Sir Charles Morgan donated land on Stow Hill for the construction of a new Workhouse which was completed in 1839 at a cost of £3668.
