ALMSHOUSES OF LONDON

 

 

Almshouses in SE postcode area

 

SE1 Bankside

SE1 Borough

  • Drapers Almshouses, Borough Road, SE1

  • Red & White Cross Cottages


SE1 Borough Market

In his will, dated 13th November 1626, Edward Alleyn (1556-1626) requested that his executors (his cousins Thomas and Matthias) found almshouses in the parish of St Saviour within two years of his death. The almshouses were to have places for ten eldely poor people - five men and five women - who would be transferred to his College in Dulwich when vacancies occurred. 

The almshouses were built on part of an enclosure known as the Soap Yard, which belonged to the "College of the Poor", also known as Cure's College (see below). The almspeople received a weekly stipend of 6d (2.5p) and, every other year, a coat or a gown. 

In 1862 the site of the almshouses and of Cure's College were purchased by the Charing Cross Railway Company. The almshouses were forced to move to premises in Gravel Lane. 

In 1885 the land in Gravel Lane was bought by the South Eastern Railway. The reisdents moved again, this time to a wing at St Saviour's College in West Norwood, the new premises of Cure's College.

In 1584 Thomas Cure, a master saddler to Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and M.P. for Southwark, gave money and land towards the foundation of almshouses in Deadman's Place for 16 poor elderly men and women of St Saviour's parish. 

The almshouses were built on part of the grounds of medieval Waverley House, which had belonged to the Abbot of Waverley until the dissolution of the monasteries. 

The almshouses were known as the College of the Poor. The chief justice of the Common Pleas was President of the College, which was managed by a warden and a sub-warden. Each almsperson received 20d (8p) a week. Prayers were said every morning and evening. 

In his will, drawn up shortly before his death on 24th May 1588, Thomas Cure made his son George responsible for an annual payment towards the use of the poor housed in his almshouses. 

The College also received endowments from others, including Mrs Appleby. With the addition of her benefactions (£3 a year for coals) and those of George Cure (£3 6s 8d (£.33) a year), the inmates each received an additional allowance of 16 shillings (80p) a year. 

In 1820 ten of the almshouses were rebuilt at a cost of £2,060. 

Deadman's Place was renamed College Yard in the 1830s. 

By the 1850s it had become Park Street. 

In 1863 the almshouses were purchased by the Charing Cross Railway Company. The almspeople moved to new premises - St Saviour's College - in West Norwood. 

The site of the almshouses is now part of the Park Street estate in Borough Market.

Cure's College

A stone plaque on the front wall of No. 7 Park Street commemorates Thomas Cure and his College. It states: This part of the estate of the late Thomas Cure Esq. saddler to Queen Elizabeth and founder of the College was rebuilt AD 1831. John Wild, Junr. Warden.

  • Henry Jackson's Almshouses, Deadman's Place, SE1 9AB

In 1685 Henry Jackson founded an almshouse by the churchyard in Deadman's Place, on the southwest side of the Borough market. It had two rooms for two poor elderly women, who received a weekly stipend of 20d (8p).

 In 1863 the site of the almshouses was purchased by the Charing Cross Railway Company and the almspeople moved to new almshouses built by the parish - St Saviour's College - in West Norwood. 

The site of the almshouses is now part of the Park Street estate in Borough Market.

  • Henry Sprat's Almshouses, Deadman's Place, SE1 9AB

By his will of 1708, Henry Sprat bequeathed money to establish almshouses for two poor elderly men from the Liberty of Clink. In 1709 his executors applied for permission from the parish of St Saviour to build an almshouse for the two old men adjoining the churchyard. This was granted and the almshouse was built alongside Cure's College (see above). The two almsmen received an annual stipend of £4 each. 

In 1863 the site of the almshouses was purchased by the Charing Cross Railway Company and the almspeople moved to new almshouses built by the parish - St Saviour's College - in West Norwood. 

The site of the almshouses is now part of the Park Street estate in Borough Market.

  • Henry Young's Almshouses, Deadman's Place, SE1 9AB

In 1694 Henry Young founded an almshouse for two poor elderly women. He also endowed them with £5 4s (£5.20) per annum, to be paid weekly. Thus, each woman received 1 shilling (5p) a week. 

In 1863 the site of the almshouses was purchased by the Charing Cross Railway Company and the almspeople moved to new almshouses built by the parish - St Saviour's College - in West Norwood. 

The site of the almshouses is now part of the Park Street estate in Borough Market. 


SE1 Elephant & Castle

  • Drapers Almshouses, Newington Butts, SE1

  • Fishmongers Almshouses, Newington Butts, SE1


SE1 Lambeth

  • Hedger's Almshouses, Hedger's Court, Webber Row,, SE1 7LF

  • Van Lee's Almshouses, Narrow Wall, SE1

Around 1665 Gerard Van Lee and Valentine Van Lee, believed to have been father and son, established almshouses for eight elderly poor men in the Lambeth Marsh area, across the Thames from Westminster.  The inhabitants received a collective annual stipend of £5.

The almshouses were in Narrow Street, which ran along the right bank of the Thames, which is now the base of Westminster Bridge and that of Waterloo Bridge. This was the line of an ancient embankment separating the Thames from the marshy ground beyond. 

The area was more country than London in the 17th century, and rough - Pepys records going a-whoring there about the time the almshouses arrived. 

No further references to the almshouses have emerged, so there is no indication where on Narrow Street they lay. They are unlikely to have survived beyond the 18th century.

Narrow Street eventually became Belvedere Road, though not following the exact old line. 


SE1 Southwark

  • Drapers Almshouses

  • Dutch Almshouses, Horseshoe Alley, SE1 9HL

The Dutch Reformed Church had been re-established in 1560 under Queen Elizabeth I, in Austin Friars in the City of London. After every service its deacons collected alms from the congregants and also organised less frequent door to door collections. 

As well as being in charge of the distribution of alms, the deacons also supervised the congregation's poorhouse, renting a house for those members who needed to be maintained on a permanent basis. 

The first known almshouses, established in 1580 by the Church, were in Horseshoe Alley, in the liberty of the Clink, in St Saviour's parish, Southwark. The neighbourhood was a centre in which Dutch immigrants had settled in the 16th century. 

By 1635 the almshouses accommodated 14 paupers; four years later there were 15 old and infirm inmates. 

However, the poorer members of the Dutch congregation preferred to receive poor relief while living in the liberties outside the wall of the City. Apart from the stigma of living in a poorhouse, they were reluctant to submit to the code of discipline of the institution.  If they failed to comply, they could find themselves expelled and henceforth excluded from further assistance from the Church.

Most of the recipients of alms from the Church - poor widows, the old and infirm - never entered the almshouses. 

It is not known when these almshouses closed, but new Dutch Almshouses were built in 1682 in Moorfields. 

Horseshoe Alley disappeared during the development of the area in the early 1980s. The site of the almshouses is now occupied by what used to be the Financial Times' headquarters.

  • Edward Edwards House, Nicholson Street, SE1

  • Edwards Almshouses, 15 Burrell Street, SE1

  • Mrs Vaughan's Charity, 200 Union Street, SE1

  • Walter's Almshouses, Blackman Street, SE1

  • St Saviour's Almshouses, Gravel Lane, SE1 0FG

These almshouses of unknown foundation were believed to have been in existence as early as 1671. They were rebuilt in 1705 by St Saviour's parish. 

Located opposite No. 16 Gravel Lane, they consisted of a building containing ten small rooms, providing accommodation for ten poor elderly women of the parish who had formerly paid scot and lot. 

The parish was responsible for repairs to the building and also for appointing the inmates. 

In his will dated 21st June 1806, Stephen Lowdell, a physician and prominent Baptist layman, bequeathed £300 in stock to the churchwardens and overseers of the parish, so that the dividends could be divided among the ten women. In this way, each received 2 shillings (10p) on the first Saturday of each month.

 The almshouses were demolished in the mid 19th century. 

Gravel Lane is now Great Suffolk Street.

  • Surrey Chapel Almshouses, 38 Glashill Street, SE1


SE5  Blackheath

  • Morden College


SE5  Burgess Park

SE5  Camberwell 

SE6 Catford

SE7  Charlton

SE8  Deptford

  • Trinity Almshouses, Church Street, SE8


SE9 Eltham

  • Thomas Philipot's Almshouses 


SE9 Mottingham

  • Sir Robert Geffrye's Almshouses


SE10  Greenwich

  • Hatcliffe Almshouses, Tuskar Road, SE10 9UY

  • Jubilee Almshouses

  • Penn's Almshouses

  • Queen Elizabeth's College

  • Trinity Hospital


SE12 Lee

SE13 Blackheath

  • Morden College, St German's Place, SE3


SE13 Lee

SE13 Lewisham 
SE15  Nunhead

SE15  Peckham      

SE16  Bermondsey

SE16 Rotherhithe          
   
SE17  Elephant & Castle

  • Metropolitan Tabernacle Almshouses, Elephant Road, SE17 1AY


SE17  Walworth

  • St Mary Newington Close, Surrey Square, SE17

  • Walter's Close


SE18 Woolwich

SE20  Penge

  • Free Watermen & Lighterman's Almshouses

  • Royal Naval Asylum


SE21  Dulwich

SE24   Herne Hill

  • Howis Trust


SE26 Upper Sydenham

SE27   West Norwood

Last updated 18th August 2023

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