Addresses a neglected element of English welfare history, examining the
role and significance of English almshouses in the period 1550 - 1725
and the contribution they made within the developing welfare systems of
the time
Almshouses providing accommodation for poor people are a common feature
of the towns and villages of England, visible representations of
historic attitudes towards the poor. The period after the Reformation
saw not only the survival of many medieval institutions but also a
remarkable number of new foundations, as people from many different
backgrounds used their wealth to revive and remodel this ancient form of
provision to meet new needs. This book addresses a neglected element of
English welfare history, examining the role and significance of English
almshouses in the period 1550 - 1725 and the contribution they made
within the developing welfare systems of the time.
Drawing on archival evidence, the book analyses why almshouses were
founded and the reasons for the continuing popularity of this particular
form of charity; who the occupants were; what benefits they received;
and how residents wereexpected to live their lives. It challenges the
assumption that Post-Reformation almshouses were places of privilege for
the respectable deserving poor and reveals a surprising variation in the
socio-economic status of almspeopleand their experience of almshouse
life. The book places these findings in the context of the contemporary
national and local debates about poverty and poor relief and argues that
early modern almshouses took on a distinct and newidentity within the
changed landscape of relief provision in post-Reformation England. Many
almshouses played an integral role in the early welfare provision of
their local communities, yet, ultimately, their significance was
affected by the emergence of harsher public provision in the new
workhouses of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
ANGELA NICHOLLS is Associate Fellow at the University of Warwick
