Bowling Dyeworks Almshouses

Bowling Dyeworks Almshouses were originally built in 1857 by Mr and Mrs Edward Ripley, who established one of the largest dyeworks in Europe. The almshouses were relocated to their current site in 1881, with four additional units added at that time. This symmetrical range of two-storey almshouses is designed in a restrained Jacobean style and constructed from high-quality dressed sandstone. The end houses project slightly forward and feature gables with weathered saddlestones and kneelers. The intervening houses have single window fronts arranged in pairs, with the first-floor windows designed as gabled semi-dormers. There is a small corbel table at the eaves and a weathered sill course at the first floor. The roofs are slate, with prominent corniced chimney stacks. The windows throughout are two-light thin chamfered mullion casements, and there are drip moulds over the first-floor windows of the end houses. The paired doorways, except for those of the end houses, feature four-centred arches with drip moulds above oak leaf carved panels. The original date stones have been reset following the re-erection of the almshouses.