Horwoods Almshouses

Horwood's Almshouses are a group of almshouses dating from 1674. They were started under the patronage of Thomas Horwood and completed for his wife, Alice, and have undergone thorough renovation. The buildings are constructed of painted stone rubble, with the Church Lane elevation roughcast, and have a natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles. The stacks are mostly dismantled, and the rainwater goods are cast iron. Pitched stone paving is laid in the courtyard.

Originally designed as 8 dwellings for 16 inmates, the almshouses form an L-plan range, the longer block set back from Church Lane and providing an entrance to a courtyard. A smaller, 2-unit block is situated behind and also parallel to Church Lane.

The two-storey street elevation is largely blank, except for the courtyard entrance featuring a moulded timber doorway with elaborate ramshead stops carved with foliage detail. Above the doorway is a slate plaque, a copy of a more worn plaque inside the courtyard, which reads: "This Alms Hous was founded & endowed by y worll Thomas Horwood merchant twice mayor of this towne who was a worthy benefactor and began it in his life, finished by his wife Mrs Alice Horwood after his death who of her owne accord added the adioying free school and endowed it for 20 poore children forever 1659 abi et tu fac similiter."

Within the courtyard, the main block has a regular 4-window range. It has four double ovolo-moulded door frames with blind scroll stops and stud and cover strip doors, mostly renewed, two on either side of the courtyard entrance. The doors and windows have timber lintels. The windows are 3-light, ovolo-moulded, mullioned timber windows with diamond-leaded glazing, using cockshead hinges. The ground-floor windows have lead drip ledges on moulded brackets.

The shorter block of the L-shaped range incorporates two doorways and one 2-light, and one 3-light window on the ground floor, and two 3-light windows, one with a worn inscription tablet, replicated on the exterior. A smaller, detached block features a brick stack at its right end and a symmetrical 2-window range, with a central doorway matching the others, alongside two ground-floor and two first-floor windows, all matching in style.

The interior has been modernised, and a turned-leg bench, mentioned in a 1973 list description, is no longer present.

The almhouses are situated adjacent to Horwood's School, dating from 1659.