Lower Saltisford Almshouses in Warwick

These almshouses were founded by two owners of the Priory in Warwick: initiated by Sir Thomas Puckering in the 1630s and rebuilt by Henry Wise, gardener to royalty, in 1737.¹ By 1851 the premises were known as ‘Pickering House’: clearly a corruption of Puckering. At that time all the residents were female widows or spinsters; one had a 13-year-old grand-daughter living with her and another had a lodger. A 46-year-old charwoman had her 14-year-old daughter living with her and had probably been admitted to help care for the other, much older residents. Most were listed as ‘paupers’ so may have been in receipt of parish support. ²

The buildings

Originally there were four cottages housing eight people but they were rebuilt in the 18^th century and the photo above shows five units. The almshouses formed a terrace adjacent to St Michael’s leper chapel (you can just see the gable end of the chapel above the right-hand almshouse in the photo). It was said that the remains of St Michael’s Hospital had been appropriated as an almshouse for old women but was subsequently used as a smith’s shop.³ However, a late 19th-century map suggests that the smithy lay beyond the chapel (perhaps in the tall building on the right of the photo above). ⁴

Benefits

In the early 19th century, eight poor female residents were given 13d quarterly, plus 2s 6d from the Priory lands.  They were selected by the Rev. Wise, who also paid for repairs. Each person had a living room and a bedroom plus use of communal facilities in the small back garden: a pump, a trough and a privy. A survey in 1886 said the premises needed considerable repairs and would be worth £85 if sold. ⁵

Managing the almshouses

Towards the end of the 19^th century, there was a quarrel about responsibility, with a rather peevish correspondence between the local Vicar and Mr. George Wise who asserted that he’d sold the Priory and thus was no longer responsible for supporting the almshouses.⁶ The Charity Commissioners tried but failed to reactivate the original trust,  and eventually St Mary’s parish took over and administered them along with their own poorhouses nearby in the Saltisford.

The fate of the almshouses

Sadly, the Lower Saltisford almshouses were demolished in 1964.

References

¹ Rosemary Booth ‘To Divers Good Uses: a directory of the Warwick Charities past and present’, Warwickshire County Record Office,1993, p. 18.

²  1851 census for Warwick, HO/107/2073, folio 319, p. 26.

³  F. White & Co., History, Gazetteer and Directory of Warwickshire, Sheffield, 1874, p. 207.

⁴ OS 25″ map of Saltisford, 33.9, 1889.

⁵  Warwickshire County Record Office reference CR 2433/32/297, Solicitor’s report on the almshouses, 1886.

⁶  Warwickshire County Record Office reference DR 537/86, Correspondence between George Wise and the vicar of St Mary’s, 1886.