Mackrells Almshouses

Mackrell's Almshouses is a terrace of almshouses built in 1874 by J.W. Rowell, with an extension of the same style added in 1894. The construction utilizes Devon limestone crazy-paving rubble, topped with a continuous slate roof and incorporating moulded rubblestone ridge stacks to the party walls. The building has double-depth plans and presents a symmetrical 15-window frontage, with each house being a one-window range.

The design is one and two storeys with attics. Plinths are visible alongside rubblestone relieving arches and stone mullions to the 2-light first-floor windows. The two entrance bays, positioned to flank the centre, are stepped forward, featuring wrought-iron finials to the coped gables and pierced trefoils at the apexes. First-floor windows have transom and trefoil heads. Diagonal offset buttresses are visible below moulded string courses on the ground floor, alongside pointed-arched entrances with labelled hoodmoulds. The right-hand entrance bears an inscription in the tympanum over a shouldered-arched opening, reading "By the grace of God the Mackrell alms-houses built and endowed by Thomas and Sophia Mackrell, natives of Wolborough were extended by the erection of eight additional dwellings in the year of Our Lord 1894." A similar inscription on the left-hand entrance is dated 1874. The three groups of six almshouses on each side have smaller gables with half dormers, each featuring shouldered arches over the 3-pane lights of the first-floor windows. A low wall with chamfered coping supports a lean-to glass and slate verandah roof, with moulded columns and diagonal braces, spanning between gabled and buttressed porches to each house. Three-light windows are on the left, while four-light ground-floor windows are on the right, both featuring timber mullions and transoms. Larger units at each end echo the entrance range, incorporating 3-light windows and entrances in gabled porches to the returns. The rear elevation mirrors the front in style. The interior remains uninspected. This is a distinguished composition in Devonian limestone, attributed to a noteworthy local architect.