Shrewsbury Drapers Guild
Contents
The Drapers' Hall
10 St. Mary's Place,
Shrewsbury
SY1 1DZ
Charity No's: 213372 233903
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The Almshouses
Right: The almshouses built in front of St Mary's Church in 1444.
The charitable work of the Drapers has been continuous since 1444 when they established almshouses for widows and spinsters who received money, fuel and clothing from the Company. The first group of thirteen timber-framed cottages, a common hall and /warden’s house, were built in the churchyard facing St Mary’s Street, then known as ‘Ox Lane’. Degory Watur occupied the Warden’s house in the early days, and financial support came from Katherine Bonel, the widow of a wealthy Draper. Each cottage was single-celled, probably with a ‘croglofft’ or sleeping shelf, in the Welsh tradition. The cottages had open hearths but the common hall was built complete with fireplace and chimney. In 1647 fireplaces with tall front chimneys were added to the cottages. By 1824 the almshouses were ‘wretched and filthy’ and ‘dangerously unwholesome’ and they were replaced with eighteen new almshouses on the opposite side of the street. This was part of a scheme under the Street Improvement Act of 1820 to improve the streets and regulate frontages and pavements in the town. The new almshouses were designed and built by John Carline in Tudor style, in brick with Grinshill stone dressings, they were arranged around a courtyard entered from the street through a gatehouse bearing a fine cartouche of the Company’s arms carved in stone.
By 1964 these almshouses had in their turn become antiquated and lacking in modern amenities, so the site was sold for re-development. Sixteen modern almshouses and a Warden’s house, all designed by Stanley Catterall, were built in Fairford Place, Coleham, and the Drapers’ handsome carved stone coat of arms was transferred from the entrance tower of the 1824 almshouses to the new site. In 1969 the Company became trustee for another group of almshouses on the Wenlock Road, adjacent to St Giles Church. All the Drapers’ almshouses provide a good bed-sitting room, a kitchen and a bathroom for each resident and are available to elderly men and women who can look after themselves while living in a caring community.
Information for potential residents of the Almshouses:
Many of us reach a point in our lives when we feel that, although we are physically fit and healthy, we would like to have the security of knowing we do not have to worry about the maintenance of our home and the paying of the bills that relate to it. We would like to be living in a community where our needs are understood but we can maintain our independence whilst living in our own home.
The Drapers’ Company Almshouses can provide this security for single or widowed people of pensionable age, who do not require nursing care.
Fairford Place Almshouses:
At Fairford Place, set in a peaceful garden, there are sixteen studio flats at ground and first floor levels and there is a warden living on the site. Each flat has a large bed/sitting room, an up to date separate kitchen, a separate modern bathroom, a press button call aid system, a balcony or glazed in porch and double glazed windows.
Adjoining the flats there is the Mulberry Centre. This contains a day room for the use of the residents, a laundry, and a guest room for relatives who need to stay overnight.
Fairford Place is close to a good range of local shops, and Shrewsbury town centre is easily accessible.
St Giles:
There are four bungalows at St Giles set around a private garden. Each bungalow has similar accommodation to those in the studio flats at Fairford Place. There are some shops nearby and it is on a bus route to Shrewsbury town centre. St Giles does not have a residential warden but it is visited regularly by the warden from Fairford Place and Drapers Trustees.
If you or a member of your family, or a friend, would be interested in knowing more about the Shrewsbury Drapers’ Almshouses, please apply to:
The Chairman,
The Lodge,
Fairford Place,
Salters Lane,
Shrewsbury
SY3 7DL