Construction of the Dorking Union workhouse was begun in 1840 to the design of Dorking architect and builder William Shearburn (also responsible for the Dorking United Reformed church) and was completed within a year. The union workhouse was built in an H shape and at it's peak accommodated 250 inmates. a chapel was added in the late 19th C. and in 1898, an infirmary was constructed to the plans of H Percy Adams at a cost of £7,366 his design having been chosen in a competition of 1897. This comprised two 16-bed general wards, two 6-bed wards for 'dirty cases,' a labour room and 3-bed 'lying-in' ward, a 4-bed children's ward, two 2-bed acute wards, and two single-bed wards.
In 1930, Dorking Union Workhouse became the Dorking Public Assistance Institution, then later the Dorking County Hospital. It became Dorking General Hospital under National Health Service governance in 1948, presumably after which the hospital added to its grounds a house called The Nook and a purpose built accommodation block. The workhouse building was remodelled (half demolished) in the 1990s and The Nook and the other accommodation block are presumed to have gone out of use sometime after this and became derelict, remaining in a state of decay until both were demolished in 2006-7.
A 1980s block on the north of the site now houses the main hospital and no staff are now resident on site. What remains of the Workhouse block now houses a day nursery
