Building    From 1666  To 1966

Spurstowe Almshouses

Categories: Property

Spurstowe Almshouses

Discover National Archives gives: "Shortly before his death in 1666, the Reverend Dr William Spurstowe, Vicar of Hackney, built six almshouses near Church Street, Hackney, for six ancient widows from the parish of Hackney. His brother, Henry Spurstowe, completed his work by endowing the almshouses with two closes of pasture called Badbrooke's Meadows containing eight acres of land and one close of pasture called Peckwell or Pickwell Field containing eight acres, all of which (including the almshouses) were copyhold of the manor of Kings Hold. Henry Spurstowe transferred the almshouses and land to trustees by a deed of gift dated 22 August 1667. The deeds of gift was lost some time between 1754 and 1800 and no precise record of the terms of the trust remained." And goes on to explain that the charity was augmented and then, in 1819, rebuilt on the same site. And then in 1906 the Charity Commissioners approved a scheme whereby Bishop Wood's Almshouses were to be administered by the Trustees of Dr Spurstowe's Charity.

Spurstowe's Almshouses were demolished in 1966 and replaced by new almshouses situated in Navarino Road, Hackney. The Archeological Evaluation of the site refers to a 1750 watercolour of the alsmhouses but does not show the painting and we have not found it elsewhere.

Our image is a screen grab from the 1955 "Around the World with Orson Welles" - the Chelsea Pensioners segment.  Sorry for the blurry picture.  The camera lingers on the plaque but only pans across the building with the residents outside so this is the best image we could capture.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Spurstowe Almshouses

Commemorated ati

Spurstowe Almshouses

From the dates, this plaque was erected first in 1689 on the original 1666 al...

Read More

Spurstowe Almshouses - new plaque

Almshouses were originally built on this site in 1666 by Dr William Spurstowe...

Read More

Other Subjects

St Joseph's Almshouses

St Joseph's Almshouses

Roman Catholic almshouses, funded by Joseph and Mary Knight.   Designed by Pugin, building began in 1847.  24 cottages were planned but only 18 built, in two blocks of 9, at the north-east corner o...

Building, Property, Social Welfare

2 memorials
Nicholas Stone

Nicholas Stone

Master mason, for George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Other works in London include the statues at the Guildhall of Charles I and Elizabeth I. Stone's name could not be more appropriate - see ...

Person, Architecture, Property

2 memorials
Duchy of Cornwall

Duchy of Cornwall

Something like a company, which invests mainly in land (mostly in the south-west of England) and with the income benefiting the Duke of Cornwall who is normally the monarch's eldest son. The biscui...

Group, Property

2 memorials
Thomas Osborn and Sons

Thomas Osborn and Sons

Builders active in 1902.

Group, Property

1 memorial