Newbury's Almshouses (revised and updated)

                                                                            St Bartholomew's Hospital

I thought it would be interesting to do an up to date blog of Newbury's numerous almshouses. So far as I am aware the town has the largest number of almshouses of any town in the country.  Stamford would probably be the next highest.  West Berkshire Museum published a book on The Almshouses of Newbury but it seems to be out of print. A useful Timeline of Newbury Almshouses derived from the book can be found on the website of a modern Almhouse charity, the Charity of Mrs Mable Luke founded in 1928.

But what are Almshouses? They grew out of religious foundations, often called hospitals, which provided for the poor, the sick and also pilgrims. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, almshouses were established funded by well-to-do benefactors to provide housing for the poor and needy. There were often eligibility criteria: age, health, living in the locality (often for a specified time), former members of trades and industries. And almshouses were not all secular: many would have a chapel.

I started at St Bartholomew's Hospital in Argyle St. It is an almshouse originally founded in the 12th century, but whose current buildings date from 1698. It looks a little worse for wear and older photos show a clock above the stone plaque announcing its name.

Carrying on along Argyle St you come to the Essex Wynter Almshouses. Originally a farm, they became the Phillip Jemmet almshouses in 1670 (and his initials can be seen over the door) and were reconstructed by Dr Essex Winter (having become derelict) in 1926. 

At the end of the road I turned left to pass the Upper Raymond Almshouses of 1826. They consist of a plain brick terrace, but with dramatically large chimneys, gothick windows and a curious shallow stone arch stuck on to the centre of the block. There are a couple of modern (1970) almshouses to the left, out of shot.

I turned right into Newtown Road for a few hundred yards to reach the Newbury Church and Almshouse Charity (described by Pevsner as Child's Almshouses). It is a pleasant U-shaped group dated 1879 and renovated in 1982.

 

I doubled back along Newtown Road to see the very plain Lower Raymond Almshouses, bearing the date 1796. Another range at right angles to this one was destroyed in by bombing 1943.

I carried on along Bartholomew Street to reach St Nicholas church and then cross the bridge and turning left down a narrow alley to Northcroft Lane where a splendid former almshouse can be found. There is a large white plaque over the doorway, but unfortunately it is almost impossible to read. It is just possible to read the foundation date: 1824.

Retracing your steps and turning right at the bridge brings you to West Mills. This area has several buildings which were once small Almshouses: the Hunt Almshouses at number 11 (1729, rebuilt 1817), Coxedd's Almshouses (1690) at number 15 and Pearce's Almshouses (1694) at number 18.

South of West Mills and off Kennet Road are Kimber's Almshouses (1939) very plain and built of chunky brick. They were originally founded in 1795 in Cheap Street.

 

 

I went along Kennet Road then Craven Road where some houses on the left had the classic almshouse appearance, albeit plainer and more modern. I can't find any reference to them in the Timeline of Newbury Almshouses.

 

The left into Rockingham Road to reach Enborne Road. Tucked away off to the right are the delightful Coxedd and Pearce's Almhouses. They are dated 1884 - although the beautiful sunflower motif might make you think they were a little later - and were built to replaced two of the small almshouses in New Mills referred to earlier. This is a bit out on a limb but you are still only 10 minutes from the station or 15 from the town centre going back along Enborne Road.

A footnote on the Charity of Mrs Mabel Luke: it is still involved in building new almshouses. A devlopment of flats has recently been completed in the centre of Newbury. It may lack the architectural features I so like, but it is wonderful that almshouse charities are still producing what we would now call social housing.

 

 

Almshouses of Bristol

In case you are wondering (as I was), the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) covers Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. It has a population not far short of a million people. Its Headquarters are in Bristol. This post is concerned only with Bristol.

King Street, where the St Nicholas with Burton's Almshouses are to be found is on the corner with Queen Charlotte Street. They date from 1652 and were extended in the 19th century and restored in 1961. They are now student accommodation.

King Street is full of interesting buildings, including the Bristol Old Vic and at the far end is another fine almshouse: the Merchant Venturers of 1699, intended for seamen as the plaque suggests.

The front view is delightful although it was originally a square, partly destroyed by wartime bombing and further constrained by road realignment. It is now private accommodation.

 

We crossed the busy Colston Avenue and went to see St Bartholomew's Hospital, the tall white building with vertical timbers. It is a 12th Century town house incorporated into monastery hospital founded 1240 by Sir John le Warre, and later a school. A sign revealed that it was now apartments, all sold.

 

 
At the top of Christmas Steps is the dramatic Foster's Almshouse. It was originally founded by a bequest from  merchant John Foster in 1492. The present high Victorian buildings were constructed between 1861 and 1883 and are now private apartments.

 

 

And finally to see the harmonious Colston's Almshouses, built in 1691 (and restored in 1861 and 1988). Colston is of course the now notorious Edward Colston (1636–1721).

Almshouses of Taunton and South Somerset

The Taunton Heritage Trust  is rather like the The Exeter Homes Trust in that it covers several discrete almshouse buildings. The first and most impressive is Gray's Almshouses. They were founded in 1635 by the wealthy cloth-merchant Robert Gray, whose monument survives in the Church of St Mary Magdalene. The building is one of the oldest surviving in Taunton and is one of the earliest brick buildings in the county (from Wikipedia). 

 

Then we have the impressive Huish Homes. They are located in a  Grade II listed building, built in 1868, that provides four flats, a laundry room and a communal garden. The offices of the Trust are also there. 

The buildings of Leycroft Close in Hamilton Road were built in 1931 and consist of 328 flats.

The St James's flats, dating from 1845, consist of eight flats with a shared garden.

Finally, the Bernard Taylor homes date from1984. The accommodation is intended for single occupancy, but there is a large communal area. 

The remaining Almshouses are the St Margaret's Almshouses. They began as a leper hospital - or Leprosaria - in the 12th century where diseased locals were isolated. The building is said to have featured secret underground tunnels to transport the dead to a nearby cemetery.  The almshouses are now privately owned.

 

 Finally, I discovered a relocated almshouse preserved by Taunton Castle in the Museum of Somerset .

 

 To the south of Taunton there are Staple Fitzpaine with Portman's Almshouses.

These almshouses were founded by Sir William Portman and were restored in 1970.

To the east is the village of East Coker, famous for T S Eliot's celebrated poem. They were originally built in 1640 for 11 women and a man, and are still in use.  A plaque in front of a large tree marks the site of a "plague pit", where 70 villagers were buried in 1645.

Nearby is the village of Bishops Lydeard. The almshouses in the high street were originally built in 1616 by Sir Richard Grobham.  They were restored in 1854 and again in the mid 20th century.

 

Finally, there are Harvey's Almshouses. These almshouses were founded by an Exeter merchant called Richard Harvey in 1663.  He was born in Chard.  The original almshouses were demolished in the 19th century and replaced by the present building in 1841-42.

Almshouses of South Devon

This post covers some impressive Almshouses in South Devon: specifically in Moretonhampstead, Newton Abbot, Wembury and Plymouth. We start with Moretonhampstead, now owned by the National Trust

'Recorded as 'new' in 1451, the building was converted into eight almshouses in 1637. Having been used as a poorhouse and private residences during the following centuries, it was given to the National Trust in 1952 and today consists of two cottages. 

 

 

The first of the almshouses in Newton Abbot are the Mackrell's Almshouses in Wolborough Street.

(From https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4109108) The 40 almshouses were designed by JW Rowell, built in 1874 and extended in 1894.The walls are of Devonian limestone crazy-paving rubble. The slate roof is continuous with moulded rubblestone ridge stacks to party walls. The building is double-depth in plan - there are houses front and back, in similar style. The southwest (right-hand) entrance has an inscription in the tympanum which reads "By the grace of God the Mackrell alms-houses built and endowed by Thomas and Sophia Mackrell, natives of Wolborough were extended by the erection of eight additional dwellings in the year of Our Lord 1894." A similar inscription to the northeast (left-hand) entrance is dated 1874. 

Here is a more detailed view of the Almshouses:

A group of 4 almshouses in 109-115 East Street dating from 1845 are built in a Picturesque Tudor style. Lady Lucy Reynell, wife of the owner of Forde House Torquay Road, originally endowed the almshouses in 1640. She intended them to accommodate priests widows, "the relicts of preaching ministers, left poor, without a house of their own". The original building in Torquay Road was demolished in 1790 and rebuilt in East Street nearer to the town centre. 

 

Also in East Street, at 133-147, are the Haymans Almshouses.

They date originally from 1576 when Robert Hayman endowed properties in East Street "for the better maintenance and relief of poor people". These properties included almshouses. They were rebuilt in 1840 as this symmetrical terrace of eight almshouses in what Pevsners calls the Regency Gothic style.

Continuing South west there are two more interesting almshouses. The first are the delightful Sir Warwick Hele's Almshouses in Wembury. They consist of 6 houses: built in 1685 and renovated in 1975. Sir Warwick was the High Sheriff of Devon at the time. Ange I walked past them almost exactly 10 years ago while we were walking the South West Cost Path.

Finally, in Plymouth we reached Lanyon House in Green Street. The original almshouse was built in 1679 with £300 left in a will by John Lanyon, ex Lord Mayor of Plymouth and a Friend of Samuel Pepys. The present almshouses were moved to their site in Green Street in 1868, and renovated in 1977. They are still in use as Almshouses.

 

Finally, a mention for the Pearn Almhouse Trust in Higher Compron, which was funded by a legacy from a local benefactor, Edwin Alonzo Pearn, in 1893. The self-contained accommodation has three separate buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almshouses of Tiverton and East Devon

We begin in Wellbrooke Street in Tiverton where there are Waldron's Almshouses with their adjoining chapel. They date from 1590 and were restored in 1987 (the chapel in 1990). The founder, Thomas Waldron, was a merchant. This area of the town, West Exe, was a centre for weaving and spinning from the early 16th century.

We continues across the Exe and left into St Peter's Street to visit Slee's almshouses, founded by George Slee in 1610 for six single women. The first floor gallery was originally open.

On the left of the almshouses is the Great House of St George, constructed 1603-14 for George Slee apparently after a substantial fire of 1598 which destroyed much of the town.

There are also former almshouses in Barrington St. The plaque reveals that this was "Blagdon's Charity. Destroyed by Fire and rebuilt 1833."

The final main sight, further down Gold St was Greenway's Almshouses, which like Waldron's have an attached chapel. They were founded in 1529. The stonework seems to have been renovated quite recently.There are two further parallel ranges behind dating from 1839 and 1889.

To the east of Tiverton is the Cullompton United Charity who manage a total of 9 Almshouses in the Parish of Cullompton. Below are  a pair of red brick houses known as Grants Homes. 

The Higher Street Almshouses consist of six one-bedroom terraced houses.

 

And the final one is a single-person bungalow: Weaver Wood,  

In Honiton, to the south, there seem to be only unclear traces of the St Margaret's almshouses,  Originally it was a leper hospital some distance from the town centre, the cottages were rebuilt as almshouses in the 16th century and then gothicised in the 19th century, presumably as a private house.

 

Almhouses of Exeter 2: The Exeter Homes Trust

The impressive Exeter Homes Trust is one of the largest Almshouse charities in the country. The Charity owns and manages 143 almshouses in 8 locations throughout the city of Exeter. They range from the Victorian period into Edwardian and on to the present day.

 

 Magdalen Cottages, 19th century, founded 1863

 

Liberty Dole Cottages, 19th century

 

Atwill Palmer, 19th century

Grendon Road, 19th century

North Park, 20th century

Fair Park, 20th century

 

Livery Dole Flats (1980s)

 

Culverland Road (contemporary)