Vachel Almhouses, 1-32 Castle Street

Vachel Almshouses, 1-32 Castle Street

A gated close of 32 almshouses completed in 1867 to designs by local architect William Henry Woodman (1822-1879) and named after the benefactor Sir Thomas Vachel. The almshouses were subdivided into apartments in 2023.

The almshouses are arranged in two terraces running north-south down a slope towards the Holybrook, flanking either side of a gated private footpath that leads south from Castle Street. The buildings are constructed of red and blue-grey brick, generally laid in English Wall bond, with decorative detailing to the gables and square towers at the north end of each terrace. Bath Stone dressings finish the properties, which have timber roof detailing and plain tile roof coverings. The buildings are two storeys tall with steeply-pitched roofs canted over double-height bays, and incorporate rear wings.

The terraces are designed in a simple Domestic Revival style. Extensive fine brick detailing creates decorative motifs, chequerboard patterns, string courses and tumbling in the gable ends. The pitched roofs have decorative cresting. All windows are sashes, mostly two-over-two panes, with carved stone shouldered lintels, cills and stone mullions. All entrances feature moulded stone heads above which are recessed pointed arches filled with brick laid in herringbone pattern in the tympanum. Each entrance has a double leaf timber plank door with elaborate iron hinges.

The two terraces mirror each other, each containing 16 almshouses (converted to apartments) split into four ranges. Both terraces have seven tall moulded brick chimney stacks with cogged brick decoration. The two northernmost bays to each terrace have pitched roofs and first-floor oriel windows with moulded brick corbel courses and cornices at the north elevations facing Castle Street; full-height bay windows face onto the private road. Adjoining to the south are square tower bases with flat roofs. On the northern face of the western tower is an inset plaque recovered from the original almshouses at St Mary's Butts. The plaque reads 'SR THOMAS VACHEL KT. ERECTED THESE ALMS-HOUSES ANNO. DOM. 1634, AND ENDOWED THEM WITH FORTY POUNDS P. ANNUM FOR EVER FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF SIX POOR MEN'. Above and below are plaques commemorating the restoration of the buildings in the 1960s. The inner faces of each tower have doorways at ground-floor level and a pair of sash windows above. There is decorative blue banding and moulded brick above with a dentil eaves cornice beneath the slightly projecting parapets, which formerly supported pyramidal roofs (now removed).

Attached to the south of the towers are gabled two-bay ranges with a two-storey bay window containing sash windows within stone surrounds to the left (north), with decorative stone and brickwork to the gables above, flanked by sash windows to the southern bay. The three terrace ranges attached to the south are each of five bays with a central doorway and single light above, flanked by two full-height bay windows containing sash windows set within stone surrounds. The outer bays of each range contain sash windows to both floors. There are seven rear wings to the terraces, with those to the rear of the western terrace being more irregularly placed. Some of these wings were part of the 1867 almshouses, but most were added during the 1960s modernisation works.

A pair of lamp posts on the eastern side of the private road appear to be contemporary with the almshouses. A heavily restored brick wall with iron railings and gate fronts Castle Street.