The Almhouses

The Almshouses are a row of almshouses built in 1848 by James Thomson for Joseph Neeld of Grittleton. They are constructed from squared rubble stone and feature stone slate roofs with clustered ashlar stacks, including one group of four on each wing and two on the central ridge. The building is two storeys high, with a long central range flanked by projecting gabled wings at each end. Designed in the Tudor style, it has a raised plinth, a dripcourse, and 2-light stone mullion windows with hoodmoulds.

The centre of the building has a five-window range, with the upper windows set beneath eaves-breaking shouldered gables. The central gable features a blank shield plaque above a 2-light window, with a small single light on each side. The ground floor includes a heavy projecting open porch with a shouldered gable, a shield and crest, and depressed Tudor-arched openings on three sides. A Tudor-arched entry leads into a spine passage that provides access to four almshouses.

There are low walls on either side of the porch that connect to the wings. Each wing has a door and a first-floor 2-light window on the inner sides, along with 2-step shouldered gables featuring ashlar coping and shield plaques. The first floor has two-light windows, while the ground floor features triangular bay windows on the south end walls, which have a central buttress and two Tudor-arched lights on each side. The wings also include diagonal angle buttresses. Original designs by Thomson dated 1848, found in the Wiltshire Record Office, show a front cloister on a low front wall that was not built.