The Gabriel Richards Almshouses

The Gabriel Richards Almshouses are a Grade II* listed building located in Goodnestone. They were originally built in the mid-17th century and later extended in the 18th century. The structure is made of red brick and has a plain tiled roof. The 18th-century wing features two storeys with a hipped roof and stacks at the rear left and right. It has two leaded wooden casements with three lights on each floor, which have segmental heads on the ground floor, along with a centrally located boarded door that also has a segmental head.

The 17th-century range has an entrance front that is two storeys tall, resting on a plinth and featuring a plat band and a moulded dogtooth eaves cornice. There are two large stacks on either side, each with two star-shaped moulded flues. The windows are irregularly arranged wooden casements, including a two-light rendered brick mullioned window above the door on the left side. The door is adorned with a flat hood supported by brackets and flanked by side screens. The rear elevation also has more rendered mullioned windows that are placed irregularly.

To the left, there is a shaped gable with giant pilasters on either side, topped with a full brick entablature that supports a broken segmental pediment, which features a pediment thrusting upwards through it. This design may be inspired by the pattern at Broome Park, built between 1635 and 1638. The almshouses were endowed by Gabriel Richards in his will dated 1671, although the building was already in existence at that time. The charity was intended to support four aged gentlemen or gentlewomen, preferably those who were born in Kent and related to Richards.