Queen Annes Almshouses

Queen Anne's Almshouses are a group of five almshouses built in 1891, designed by Ernest Taylor. They are located on St John Street, Newport Pagnell, and represent a rebuilding of earlier almshouses with a long history.

The building is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, with close-studded timber framing and plastered infill to the first floor. The roof is covered in plain tiles, and there are brick chimneys. The almshouses are comprised of a low, single-storey wing with numbers 34, 36, and 38, which is set back behind a wall along the street line; and a two-storey cross-wing at the south end containing numbers 40 and 42.

An entrance lobby with a battened door set in a secondary two-centred arch is located near the left end of the single-storey wing. There are four pairs of sash windows with wide boxes, raised external architraves and cornices, and moulded sills. The upper sash of each window is divided into eight panes. A single sash window of similar design is located between the third and fourth pairs. A small dormer window is against the cross wing. There are three tall, corniced chimney stacks.

The cross-wing features a battered base and an end buttress. The upper floor is jettied, supported by timber brackets on stone corbels, and has a deep pulvinated fascia and moulded plasterwork in the lower panels of the timber framing, along with a four-light paned window. A shallow jettied bressumer supports the studded gable end. Moulded bargeboards adorn the gable. A painted board on the lower panels of the upper floor reads in old English: "AL YOV CHRISTIANS THAT HERE DOOE PAS / BY GIVE SOOME THING TO THESE POORE PEOPLE / THAT IN ST JOHN HOSPITAL DOETH LY. A D 1615." Slate panels set within the moulded plaster record the foundations and periods of rebuilding, signed in 1891 by the master, Rev C M Ottley, and governors. A continuous, raised cloister walk with a moulded timber handrail between turned newels with knob finials runs along the rear. The cloister walk has windows and two doors, and a flat-roofed dormer.

Inside, the through-passage is arched at the back, and on the left, there is a staircase leading to the first floor of number 42. Ground floor rooms have un-moulded six-panelled doors, while the upper dwelling has a four-panel door.

The almshouses were originally founded in 1287 as St John Hospital, with a re-founding in 1615 for elderly and poor people of the town. A charter from James I directed that the name be changed to Queen Anne's Hospital. The building was rebuilt in 1825 and again in 1891 by Ernest Taylor, who had previously worked as an assistant to E S Harris.