Walpole's Almshouses and Garden Walls

Walpole's Almshouses, built in 1871, are a group of four attached houses made of red brick with painted stone dressings and a slate roof. The design features a single-storey central range with end cross wings, creating a symmetrical facade with six windows arranged in a pattern of a.b.c.b.b.c.b.a. Each gabled porch is flanked by three-light windows and has Gothic entrance arches with a monogram above. Inside, there are four-panel doors. The gable walls of the cross wings include canted bays with hipped roofs and four-light windows, and the gables are adorned with shields. The porches are flanked by blind two-light windows on the sides of the cross wings. The windows feature transoms, wrought iron casements, and leaded lights. A central leaning buttress with a plaque above adds to the structure's character. The bargeboards are pierced and decorated, and the roof slates display a fish scale pattern with fretted ridges and three symmetrical axial stacks. At the rear, the garden walls contain gates with Gothic arches, and a central plaque reads, "Erected by Richard Henry and Harriet Vade Walpole, for the use of 6 poor widows of the parish of Freethorpe. AD 1871."