Almshouses - An old idea to help out elderly people

In days past the poor had to rely on the generosity of their relatives, friends and local charities, without them they would end up in the work houses.

Almshouses where funded by organisations and wealthy people to help the old and infirm.

Information about the Croydon Almshouses are provided in the Walford's History of the Whitgift Hospital and the other Croydon Charities.

One of the earliest Almshouses was founded by Ellis Davy, a London merchant, who in 1447 established almshouses in Croydon for seven poor men or women. Six of them were paid weekly allowances of 10d (4 new pence) with the seventh, the tutor, receiving 1s (5 new pence).

Inmates had to wear dark brown clothes and attend daily service at the Croydon Church at which they had to pray upon their knees for the King.

There were also a number of smaller almshouses housing eight paupers. These were erected in Pitlake before 1528, near the parish church. By 1629they had obviously fallen into a state of decay as Arnold Goldwell donated £40 towards the cost of rebuilding them.

Today the Whitgift Hospital is the best known of these. The building has stood at the junction between North End and George Street since it was built by Archbishop John Whitgift in Elizabethan days. It was primarily untended to house a Warden, Schoolmaster and 28 men and women, and up to a maximum of 40 as the revenue would pay for.

Building work on the hospital started in 1596. Bricks were obtained from Streatham a few miles away. During the works several skulls and bones were discovered in trenches along the road.