User:Alan Parr/Harper's Almshouses

Harper's Almshouses, Walsall The pair of almshouses are in Bath Street in Walsall in the England’s West Midlands Combined Authority.

Walsall town was divided into the Borough (town centre) and the Foreign (suburbs) until 1835 when they were combined. These almshouses were in the Borough. Harper’s Almshouses were set up in trust in memory of William Harper, Lord of Rushall who died in 1508. A 1782 map of the town shows the land on which the houses were to be built was part of ‘gardens belonging to the vicar’. Originally they were to offer accommodation to poor men visiting the town. It was found they were being used by idle men of the town so their purpose was changed and from 1519 they were exclusively for four permanent residents who were to pray for the soul of their benefactor at St Matthew’s nearby. The vicar of Walsall in consultation with the Lord of Rushall chose which men could live there. Mollesley’s Almshouses in Dudley Road were amalgamated into Harper’s around 1825. The original Harper Almshouses were demolished and replaced by the current ones in 1878 to designs by Walsall architects H.E. Lavender. In 1972 four almswomen lived in the four houses. The houses were converted into two dwellings and are now run by the Harper’s, Marsh and Crumps Almshouses Charity. There was a cluster of almshouses in a small area of Walsall. Crump’s, Harper’s, Henry Boy’s and Marsh’s are extant. Cox’s which was between Bullock’s Row and St Matthew’s Close and Victor Street Almshouses have gone.