Monument record 179/47/0 - Site of Wilbraham's Almshouses, Welsh Row

<1> Hall J, 1883, A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich or Wich-Malbank in the County Palatine of Chester, p.358 and p.372 (Book). SCH80.

James Hall, writing in 1883, records the following account of the almshouses:-
'Sir Roger Wilbraham's Almshouse at Welsh Row Head, was originally a low brick building of one story, the only ornament, in the centre, being a stone tablet of the Arms of Wilbraham, of Dorfold, and the date 1613. It stood close to the road, and had a garden behind divided into six plots. When Partridge wrote the six almsmen were supplied with a warm gown faced with blue, and a cap, once every two years, a pair of shoes every year, and forty shillings per annum. Of late years a sum of money has been allowed, which the almspeople expend in clothing.
The Almshouse was re-built in 1870 by John … Tollemache on the site of the former garden plots, in two groups of three houses each. These comfortable dwellings of two stories, with their gardens to the front, are an ornament to the west end of the town. The inmates are old married men; and on their deaths their widows are allowed to remain during their widowhood, if they conduct themselves properly.'

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1851, Nantwich Board of Health Map, 43 1851 (Maps and Plans). SCH2431.

The OS 1:528 map of 1851 (which is prior to the construction of Tollemache's Almshouses in 1870) shows the original almshouses to be located on the same site, but positioned closer to the frontage of Welsh Row. The 6 almshouses are depicted as one block which are labelled 'Almshouses'. This position correlates to Hall's description in 1883.

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 285/2 (c1846) (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

The Tithe Map of Nantwich (circa 1846) also depicts a building row correlating to the Almshouses as recorded on the slightly later OS map of 1851.

<4> Pevsner N & Hubbard E, 1971, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, p. 285-7 (Book). SCH3078.

Pevsner mentions 'Wilbraham's Almshouses', built by Lord Tollemache of Peckforton Castle in 1870 to replace Roger Wilbraham's originals (said to survive in part as the neighbouring Nos. 112-116) of 1613 for poor men. He describes them as two blocks of three houses in the style typical of Peckforton estate buildings of the period. Of brick with tall clustered chimneys, timbered gables and dormers, the windows with diamond glazing bars.