Almshouses: What they are, how they were created and why they’re still relevant in the 21st century.

The Almshouse Association is delighted to see almshouses and their important role in the 21st century highlighted by Clive Aslet,  writer, publisher and Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, in Country Life magazine on 13 March 22.

A wonderful five page spread with stunning photographs takes the reader on a journey through the monastic beginning of almshouses to the present day, as well as exploring the history of Winchester’s Hospital of St Cross almshouses, founded in 1132.

The admissions process involved – as it still does – an interview with the master, followed by two nights at the hospital, to assess whether the applicant would fit in. Once accepted, the new arrival spends six months as a postulant, before being admitted as a full brother. ‘I loved being at Oxford, living in medieval buildings,’ discloses Brother Bevis. ‘The other day, I was looking at the great row of chimneys at St Cross and thinking how lucky I was to live in such harmonious surroundings. My rooms date from 1445 and there is a graffito that one of the brothers carved in 1512.’ Time past and time present, as T. S. Eliot might have said, are both contained in the future of Britain’s flourishing almshouses’. Clive Aslet

If you would like to read the full article, we have scanned a copy which can be accessed by clicking in the link below.

https://www.almshouses.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Country-Life-9-March-21.pdf

posted 22 Mar 22