John Baker
26 March 2023

Writing for the Wiltshire Times, John Baker takes a tour around the newly renovated Lady Brown’s Cottages almshouse run by Trowbridge Almshouses Trust. He writes the following:

[Pictured above: Trowbridge Mayor Cllr Graham Hill with Trowbridge Almshouses Trust chairman Glyn Bridges and fellow trustees at 3 Polebarn Road, one of the Lady Brown’s Cottages originally built in memory of Sir Roger Brown’s wife Sarah. Photo Trevor Porter 69712 (Image: Trevor Porter)]

“A Wiltshire almshouse has been given a new lease of life ahead of welcoming another beneficiary.

Mayor of Trowbridge Cllr Graham Hill inspected the improvements at one of Lady’s Brown’s Cottage Homes with Cllr Glyn Bridges, the chairman of Trowbridge Almshouses Trust and fellow trustees.

Cllr Bridges said: “The cottage has been given a complete makeover, with a new kitchen, bathroom, central heating, carpets and flooring. We have done as much as we can to make it pleasant for the next tenant, who are known as beneficiaries“.

Wiltshire Times: The living room at the renovated almshouse in Polebarn Road. Photo: Trevor Porter 68705-4

Wiltshire Times: The new bathroom at the renovated almshouse in Polebarn Road. Photo: Trevor Porter 68705-3

“The recently renovated cottage was one of six originally built in Polebarn Road by Wiltshire’s former High Sheriff Sir William Roger Brown in memory of his late wife Sarah who died on December 6 1899.

The plaque at Lady Brown’s Cottage Homes in Polebarn Road. Photo: Trevor Porter 68705-2 (Image: Trevor Porter)
Wiltshire Times: The recently-renovated almshouse originally built in 1900 by Trowbridge benefactor Sir Roger Brown in memory of his wife Sarah. Photo: Trevor Porter 68705-1

Sir Roger, a wealthy Victorian mill owner and clothier, built and endowed two blocks of almshouse cottages in her memory to house six widows.

Known as Lady Brown’s Cottage Homes,  they have been altered to make five dwellings. Pevsner describes their style as “deliberately rustic, many-chimneyed and many-gabled”.

“Sir Roger, who was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1898-99, also donated Trowbridge Town Hall and the land on which the Newtown Primary School was built.

posted 5 Mar 23