The journal that forms the basis of this book was begun on 1 September 1836 by Benjamin Woodcock, the master appointed by the newly formed Barnet Union. It begins almost a year after his appointment and although the site for the new workhouse had been selected, the district's paupers were still living in some of the parish poorhouses. Ending on 10 May 1838, the diary covers the period of the building's completion in the late spring of 1837, the transfer of inmates from the Barnet, Shenley and East Bamet poorhouses to the new central workhouse and the establishment of a settled routine for staff, inmates and guardians.

The journal is a small, hand written, volume. It is held at the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies under reference 70876. In 1984 extracts were included in Down and Out in Hertfordshire, produced by Hertfordshire Publications. The book, which included two other chapters on associated topics, is out of print. To provide a better setting and increase understanding, the new volume will include additional information, such as the early admission and discharge register, early accounts and extracts from correspondence between the Poor Law Commissions and the Board of Guardians and the latter's correspondence. Analysis of the first admission and discharge registers has been undertaken in order to establish the reasons for admission, gender and age of inmates on admission, the number of occasions an individual was admitted and the reasons for their eventual discharge. A comprehensive index to the journal has been designed to identify the behaviour of the inmates and their treatment and the actions, and sometimes the opinions, of those in charge of them.

A bibliography of both published work relevant to the subject and original sources and their locations will be included. Copies of plans of the original architect's design, together with maps showing the location of the former poorhouses and of the new district workhouse are included, together with a selection of photographs. An especial effort has been made to ensure that the coloured cover has been designed to reflect the wealth of information that can be found within and attract the general reader.

 Advanced information from Hertfordshire Record Society Newsletter, Spring 2008

While this is the 2008 book in the series, it did not appear until April 2010, but was well worth waiting for. For most workhouses few record survive to the comings and goings og the inmates, and the reasons for their admission, but this diary includes some exceptionally detailed records as the follow extract for June 1837 shows: