Mary Warner Almshouses And Walled Garden

The Mary Warner Almshouses and walled garden comprise a group of almshouses dating to 1743, with left and right wings added in 1828 and 1860 respectively. The buildings are constructed of red Flemish bond brick with plain tile roofs, forming an open rectangular courtyard enclosed by a low wall on the fourth side.

The south-facing range of 1743 originally provided six house fronts, each with one bay. Doorways are located at the far left and right, with a pair of doors centrally placed to either side. Flat arched heads feature over all the openings. The doorways of around 1860 have four panels, the upper two glazed. There are six windows to both the ground and first floors, each containing cross windows of 19th-century date with glazing bars. A sundial, featuring a rectangular ashlar plate and copper gnomon, is situated to the left of centre at first-floor level. Centrally, a datestone with a moulded entablature supported on console brackets bears the inscription "WARNERS ALMSHOUSE" above "TRUSTEES", listing the names of the trustees of the time, and "ERECTED 1743" in the apron below. Above this is a cavetto-moulded plaster frieze, and four chimney stacks are evenly spaced along the ridge, each with four flues.

The 1828 wing is similar in design, but features eight houses divided into pairs by pilaster buttresses that set back below the cornice. A datestone, similar to that on the 1743 range, reads "WARNERS ALMSHOUSE" above "TRUSTEES 1828," listing the trustees of that period.

The 1860 wing is an exact copy of the 1828 range. Its datestone reads “WARNERS ALMSHOUSE” above “TRUSTEES,” followed by the names of the trustees of 1860, and the date "1860" in the apron.

Each of the lateral wings terminates in a blank gabled wall with kneelers, the brickwork within these gables laid in a diagonally ascending pattern of headers and stretchers, forming a chevron design. Rear outshuts to the 1743 and 1828 ranges have two gabled projections rising to first-floor level, each with a loft door. A walled garden enclosure, built around 1869 with walls approximately 5 feet high, runs flush with the gable ends of the lateral wings and around the rear of the three ranges.