Ghent: The last almshouse

  

We were strolling along Kraanlei when we came upon the House of Alijn. It is located in the historic heart of Ghent, near the Vrijdagmarkt and the Gravensteen. It is the oldest, and only remaining, Almshouse in Ghent. It is now a museum. It was founded in 1363 as a peace offering to resolve a blood feud between the patrician Rijm and Alijn families. It was later a children's hospital

 

 

We entered the passage and emerged into a delightful square with 18 typical Flemish cottages (all interconnected) with different features on the four side, including a chapel.

 

We decided however not to take the guided tour of the interior.

For comparison, here is an almshouse with a very plain exterior from Delft: the Klaeuwshofje. It is on the bank of the Rijn-Schie canal.

We saw seen others in Amsterdam, but this was the first time we were able to see the courtyard garden which is a normal feature.

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 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.