In 1866 the Dutch Church in Austin Friars sold the site of its almshouses in Bishopsgate for £7,000 to the London and North Western Railway. A plot of land in Old Charlton, Kent, was then purchased in order to build replacement almshouses.

The new buildings opened in 1868. They contained accommodation for eight families, each with three rooms.

Twenty years later a Convalescent Home was added to the site, just to the south of the almshouses. It was formally opened in July 1866 by the Countess Van Bylandt, accompanied by her husband Count Van Bylandt, the Dutch envoy to London.

The Convalescent Home was intended for the children of poor Dutch parents and Dutch women. During the summer months children could be sent there for two weeks free of charge.

By 1886 none of the inhabitants of the almshouses, all descended from Dutch immigrants, could speak a word of the language.

In 1922 the residents consisted of six married couples and 10 single people.

In 1939, in anticipation of the outbreak of war, the residents of the almshouses were evacuated, on account of the building's exposed situation.

The almshouses and convalescent home closed in the 1960s and had been demolished by the early 1970s.

Current status