Almshouses Of Hospital Of St John Baptist

The Almshouses of the Hospital of St John Baptist are a group of 14 almshouses rebuilt in 1854 by Morris and Hobson for the Trustees of the Hospital, replacing 13 almshouses that were reputedly founded by Earl Ranulph III of Chester between 1181 and 1232. The building features stone-dressed orange brick and a hipped grey slate roof, arranged in a U-shaped court that is accessed through the Bluecoat School.

The structure is two storeys high, with six almshouses in the central block and four almshouses each in the projecting south and north wings. It has a plinth and paired four-panel doors set in Tuscan cases, each adorned with side and central pilasters, friezes, and cornices. Each almshouse has a stone-cased segmental-arched sash window on the ground floor, with stone-cased rectangular sashes above each ground floor sash and a pair above each set of doors on the first storey. The building is topped with a stone cornice and an eight-course brick parapet with simple stone coping. Symmetrically placed ridge chimneys retain their original pots. The courtyard between the almshouses and the Bluecoat School is paved with blue paviours. The interiors have been extensively refurbished, and the rear sections have been carefully extended, likely in the 1970s.