Barnstaple has the unusual distinction of being one of the four defensive towns of Devon in medieval times. Today, it has a impressive number of almshouses.
The first is these is the Penrose almshouses of 1627 are in Litchdon Street. John Penrose was a successful cloth merchant and in 1620 was the Mayor of Barnstaple. On his death in 1624 his will provided for the construction of an Almshouse. They make
lovely composition with projecting buildings at the ends joined by a
colonade with the main entrance in the middle.
You are welcome to go into the courtyard with a water pump in the middle.
The caretaker is said to be happy to show people the chapel (the
right hand building on the street front). The
lectern from which the Reader read from the bible to the almsfolk is
still present along with a lovely plastered ceiling.
Towards the centre of the town along Trinity Street, passing the Salem
Almshouses on the right. They were founded in 1834 by Charles Roberts
for 24 men and women. There are three ranges, with the street side left
open.
Pilton, once a separate town and is possibly older than Barnstaple itself
(according to Pevsner). In Pilton St are the attractive Lower Almshouses dating from
1860.
At the top of the street are the Feoffee Cottages and Church Cottages, a very pretty group with the arch in the centre. They date from 1849. It leads to the church of St Mary, founded in the 12th century and once belonging to Malmesbury Abbey.
The redbrick
Lake Almshouses of 1863 are perhaps less attractive.
In nearby Bishop's Tawton are the impressive Law Memorial almshouses which have 12 flats and date back to 1885. A central plaque
records that they were built "in loving memory of Thomas Shephard Law
and of William Henry Law, His Son. By the sorrowing wife and mother". The fuzzy photo below does not do the almshouses justice.
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