Crewe Almshouses, Nantwich
Encyclopedia
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s at the end of Beam Street in Nantwich
Nantwich
Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The town gives its name to the parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England. The present building was erected in 1767 by John Crewe
John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe
John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe , of Crewe Hall in Cheshire, was a British politician. He is chiefly remembered for his sponsorship of Crewe's Act of 1782, which barred customs officers and post office officials from voting....
, later first Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe, of Crewe in the County of Chester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 25 February 1806 for the politician and landowner John Crewe, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. This branch of the Crewe family descended from Sir Ranulph Crewe , Speaker of the House of...
, and is listed at grade II. It has a central projecting section topped by a pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, with a stone doorway flanked with Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
columns. The present almshouses stand on the site of a 16th-century building, originally the mansion of the Mainwaring family and later the town's House of Correction
House of Correction
The house of correction was a type of establishment built after the passing of the Elizabethan Poor Law , places where those who were "unwilling to work", including vagrants and beggars, were set to work. The building of houses of correction came after the passing of an amendment to the Elizabethan...
and workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
.
By the 1960s, the Crewe Almshouses were in a poor condition, and the building was threatened with demolition. It was saved by a plan which involved moving the Wright's Almshouses
Wright's Almshouses, Nantwich
Wright's Almshouses is a terrace of six former almshouses now located on Beam Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The building was originally erected at the junction of Hospital Street and London Road in 1638 by Edmund Wright , Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41, and is listed at grade II*...
from London Road to stand adjacent to the Crewe Almshouses, converting the Crewe Almshouses into flats for the elderly, and constructing modern facilities shared by both former almshouses. The new complex was completed in 1975, and Crewe Almshouses remain in use as sheltered flats for the elderly.
History
The site has been identified by local historian James Hall as the location of the mansion of the Mainwaring family at the end of Beam Street, which was described by William Webb in 1622 or 1623 as "the fine house of the Mainwarings", one of the five principal houses of the town. The Mainwaring family had settled in Nantwich in the late 15th century, and by the late 16th century were among the wealthiest families of the town. The house was described in Roger Mainwaring's will of 1590 as "my chief mansion house at the townsende of Namptwiche wth all the buildings and gardens thereunto app'teyninge". It passed to the Norton family the following year, on the remarriage of Roger's widow, Margaret, to Sir Dudley Norton. In 1644, on the death of Lady Margaret Norton, the building passed to the Dodd family of EdgeEdge, Cheshire
Edge is civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish includes Edge Hall and Edge Green....
, from whom it was purchased by Robert Wright before 1666. In 1677, the building, by then derelict, was purchased by the town at the recommendation of Roger Wilbraham of Townsend House, and became the House of Correction
House of Correction
The house of correction was a type of establishment built after the passing of the Elizabethan Poor Law , places where those who were "unwilling to work", including vagrants and beggars, were set to work. The building of houses of correction came after the passing of an amendment to the Elizabethan...
and workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
for "the undisciplined and idle poor". It remained the town's House of Correction until around 1748.
In the 18th century, the site was purchased by John Crewe
John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe
John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe , of Crewe Hall in Cheshire, was a British politician. He is chiefly remembered for his sponsorship of Crewe's Act of 1782, which barred customs officers and post office officials from voting....
of Crewe Hall
Crewe Hall
Crewe Hall is a Jacobean mansion located near Crewe Green, east of Crewe, in Cheshire, England. Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire, it is listed at grade I...
. The Crewe family was by then a major Cheshire landowner with strong ties to Nantwich: Sir Ranulph Crewe
Ranulph Crewe
Sir Ranulph Crewe was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench.-Early life and career:...
, who built Crewe Hall, was born in the town, and his mother came from the Mainwaring family. John Crewe was a prominent Whig politician who served as MP for Stafford
Stafford (UK Parliament constituency)
Stafford is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. The sitting MP is the Conservative Jeremy Lefroy....
(1765–68) and Cheshire
Cheshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Cheshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentiary constituency for the county of Cheshire. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832.As a county...
(1768–1802), and was created the first Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe
Baron Crewe, of Crewe in the County of Chester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 25 February 1806 for the politician and landowner John Crewe, of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. This branch of the Crewe family descended from Sir Ranulph Crewe , Speaker of the House of...
in 1806. He built the existing terrace of almshouses in 1767 "in pursuance of the Wills. of Sir Thomas Crewe Knight & Sir John Crewe Knight", according to the inscription above the main entrance. Sources differ as to whether Crewe demolished the existing building on the site or converted it into the new almshouse. The almshouse was for seven families, with "decayed tradesmen" being preferred. In 1883, it was maintained by Hungerford Crewe
Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe
Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe FSA, FRS was an English landowner and peer.The son of John Crewe, 2nd Baron Crewe, an army general, and Henrietta Maria Anna Walker-Hungerford, he was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford...
, third Baron Crewe, the grandson of the founder. The Charity of the Crewe Almshouses was later established, with the Marchioness of Crewe
Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe
Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe KG, PC , known as The Lord Houghton from 1885 to 1895 and as The Earl of Crewe from 1895 to 1911, was a British statesman and writer....
and the agent of the Crewe estate being among the trustees in the 1950s–60s.
Maintenance suffered during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and, by the early 1960s, the Crewe Almshouses had become dilapidated. Four of the terraced houses were vacant and boarded up, the whole building was suffering from damp, and the gardens had become a waste tip. Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
describes the building as "a sad sight" in 1971. In 1963 the charity trustees considered it impossible to renovate the almshouses, and it was proposed to demolish the building and replace it with modern flats for the elderly. However, intervention from the National Association of Almshouses, among other bodies, led to various modernisation options being reconsidered. In 1970, a novel plan was proposed which involved moving the Wright's Almshouses
Wright's Almshouses, Nantwich
Wright's Almshouses is a terrace of six former almshouses now located on Beam Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The building was originally erected at the junction of Hospital Street and London Road in 1638 by Edmund Wright , Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41, and is listed at grade II*...
– then located on London Road and also in poor condition – to stand adjacent to the Crewe Almshouses, and constructing communal facilities in a modern shared block. This was eventually agreed and, in 1973, the Crewe Almshouses charity merged with the charities administering the Wright's Almshouses and the Delves and Meakin Almshouses on Love Lane, as well as the Harriet Hope Charity, to form the "Almshouse Charities of Sir Edmund Wright, Crewe and Others". Quentin Crewe, a direct descendant of the founder, was later appointed the charity's patron. In 1973–75, a restoration programme was carried out, and the existing Crewe Almshouses building was converted into fourteen single-storey flats for the elderly. The complex was formally opened on 1 December 1975 by Princess Alexandra
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy is the youngest granddaughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy...
. The town's conservation area
Conservation Area (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the term Conservation Area nearly always applies to an area considered worthy of preservation or enhancement because of its special architectural or historic interest, "the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance," as required by the Planning ...
was extended to include the entire site.
Description
Crewe Almshouses is a terrace of seven two-storey houses totalling thirteen bays, in red brick under a slate roof. It has a central projecting section of three bays with a circular stone decoration, which is topped with a pedimentPediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
. The main entrance door is in the centre of the three-bay section; it has a stone surround with a semi-circular fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
and decorative keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
above, and is flanked with Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
columns supporting a pediment, narrow flanking windows and pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s. Above the entrance door is an inscribed stone tablet framed with decorative stonework including a keystone motif above and two corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
s below. The inscription reads: "These Almshouses were erected in the Year of our Lord 1767. by John Crewe of Crewe Esqr. In pursuance of the Wills. of Sir Thomas Crewe Knight & Sir John Crewe Knight." There is a stone cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
. The windows of the terrace all have stone sills and lintels
Lintel (architecture)
A lintel can be a load-bearing building component, a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. It is often found over portals, doors, and windows.-Structural uses:...
, with a decorative keystone, while the terrace doors have unornamented stone surrounds.
Modern usage
The Crewe Almshouses remain in use as sheltered flats for the elderly. They are now administered by a joint body of trustees for all the surviving Nantwich almshouses, together with the adjacent Wright'sWright's Almshouses, Nantwich
Wright's Almshouses is a terrace of six former almshouses now located on Beam Street in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The building was originally erected at the junction of Hospital Street and London Road in 1638 by Edmund Wright , Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41, and is listed at grade II*...
and Harriet Hope Almshouses.
Sources
- Blacklay F. Almshouses of Nantwich (A4 Media Services; 1995)
- Garton E. Nantwich in the 18th Century: A Study of 18th Century Life and Affairs (Cheshire County Council; 1978)
- Hall J. A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) (ISBN 0-901598-24-0)
- Pevsner N, Hubbard E. The Buildings of England: Cheshire (Penguin Books; 1971) (ISBN 0-14-071042-6)