Willie Almshouses and Chapel

The Willie Almshouses and Chapel, dating to 1855, were built for William and Louisa Gooday. They comprise two rows of almshouses with a small chapel set at the north-east angle, constructed of red brick with black brick diapering and grey slate roofs, the chapel having both plain and fish scale striations. The building has a roughly L-shaped layout and is single-storied, with later rear lean-to extensions.

The front of four almshouses and the chapel face School Road, with a further two almshouses situated to the right of the chapel. All the buildings overlook a central lawned garden courtyard. There are two red brick chimney stacks with diagonal shafts to the left range and a similar stack to the right range. The eaves feature dentil cornices, and there are angle buttresses on the chapel. The left range has eight two-light casement windows with moulded centre mullions and four vertically boarded doors with segmental arches. The right range features four similar windows and two doors. A stone plaque on the left gable is inscribed: "The Willie Almshouses. These almshouses were built by William Gooday and Louisa his wife 1855."

The courtyard face of the corner chapel has a vertically boarded door with a segmental pointed arch surround and a diagonal shaft chimney stack to the right. It also has a dentilled eaves cornice. The east gable wall has three graduated, leaded lancet windows and an angle buttress facing the road. The road-facing gable has two three-light leaded windows with stone mullions and dressings, a vertically boarded door with ornate iron hinges and a chamfered brick surround with a segmental pointed arch. At the gable apex is a stone-dressed red brick open bell cote with a pointed arched head, with a bell on a cross bar. Beneath the bell cote is a clock set within a segmental pointed arch. The group is considered attractive and unusual for the area.