A haven of calm in the centre of Croydon: Archbishop Whitgift had the Almhouses quad based on that of a Cambridge college
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: There will be an opportunity later this year to take a sneak peak back in time, to 400 years ago. DAVID MORGAN recently visited one of Croydon’s oldest buildings, that trace their history back to the time of the Spanish Armada. Photographs: LEE TOWNSEND
Generous benefactor: the portrait of Archbishop John Whitgift that hangs in the Chapel of the Croydon Almshouses
Picture a scene in Croydon where there are a lot of people unemployed, several living on the streets, begging for food or a few coins in order to survive.
What might be done to help?
Many people wrung their hands, do nothing or even looked away. A few found a coin or two to help people out. One person, however, realised the seriousness of the situation and understood that he was in a position to help. He set out to improve the plight of many lives.
It was the late 16th Century, in the reign of Elizabeth I. Her Archbishop of Canterbury was moved to action. John Whitgift was on a mission.
A major political decision taken by Queen Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, had set the country on edge. The Reformation had turned the country upside down. Institutions which previously helped the elderly and the needy had been broken up with no real alternative in their place.
The dissolution of the monasteries had resulted in the closing down of hospitals and places of refuge which looked after the sick, the elderly and the needy.
Royal permit: the letter sent by Queen Elizabeth I in 1595 to grant her Archbishop’s request to build the hospital and school in Croydon
During the 1590s, the situation was made worse by food shortages. Many died of starvation. Some people developed centres for the distribution of “doles”. There was one at Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
A committee of the House of Lords was set up to consider the Charities Bill proposed by the Commons. Archbishop Whitgift was a member of that committee, which was encouraging the opening of new hospitals and almshouses. Could Elizabethan philanthropy provide a solution?
Whitgift was certainly playing his part as his plans for Croydon were well under way. In November 1595, he received the letters patent from the Queen allowing him to found his Hospital of the Holy Trinity.
What we know today as the Almhouses was originally built as that hospital, a place that did not just offer medical treatment, but hospitality in the form of homes for the elderly and poor.
The letters patent are on display to this day inside the Almshouses, on the wall of a grand Elizabethan dining room, sometimes used today as the Whitgift Foundation’s boardroom. Hanging on the wall opposite the letters patent is Archbishop Whitgift’s own letter seeking royal permission.
Queen Elizabeth I’s royal seal, in wax, is impressively larger than her Archbishop’s.
There are other artefacts on show nearby, some not quite so old: there’s a letter from Sir Winston Churchill, signed personally, thanking the Whitgift Foundation for their good wishes on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
And then there’s the “Armada Chest”, a large wooden case, with impressive wrought iron locks and keys; it was not from the Armada, but was used around that time, where Archbishop Whitgift would have locked away his documents and valuables for safe keeping.
Pub sign: the Swan Inn on Croydon High Street was also demolished when the Almshouses were built. The tavern’s sign, all that remains, is kept in the Almshouses
The Whitgift hospital construction was begun early in 1597.
This would be the year of the Spanish Armada, while at the same time that building work was underway, a few miles up the road in Southwark, at the Globe Theatre, the playwright William Shakespeare oversaw the first performance of his new play, The Merry Wives of Windsor.
In Croydon on January 10 of that year, the old Checquer Inn on the corner of George Street, which Whitgift had purchased for £200, was demolished. The site was cleared by February 8.
Work on new foundations was begun on February 14 and all the preparations were ready for the bricklayers to move in on February 27.
It was at that point, however, that the work was delayed.
A large quantity of bricks, made in the locality of Croydon Park (today’s Park Hill), was determined to be faulty. The brickmaker eventually found the right consistency of earth from loam pits near Duppas Hill, where bricks had been made some years before.
On March 22, Whitgift himself laid two corner foundation stones. It is on this date each year that founder’s day is celebrated at the Croydon school which carries the Archbishop’s name.
September 6 was the date when the building work was declared finished. Nothing further was done to the Almshouses until October 1598, when the casements were inserted and the windows glazed.
The Chapel was consecrated on July 10 1599 by the Bishop of London Richard Bancroft. In the following October, the first residents were admitted.
Ten Commandments: Whitgift’s friends also made donations to the Almshouses. This panel was given by Christopher Wormeall, the Archbishop’s steward
That this building is still standing more than 400 years later is a testimony to the Vicar of Croydon, the Reverend Samuel Finche, who Whitgift tasked with overseeing the building project. It was Rev Finche’s job to report back regularly to Whitgift or to his steward at Lambeth Palace, Christopher Wormeall.
From the detailed accounts which are held in Lambeth Palace, we know that Finche had the responsibility for negotiating the rates of pay for the various craftsmen involved in the construction. William Hyllarie, a carpenter, was to be paid 21d for a day’s work while his workmen got 13d each. Bricklayers, John Greene and John Nortup, received 14d for the day and their workmen, 10d.
The sawyers, William Buckminster and Georges Carles, were paid by piece-work. They received 2s per hundred feet for board work and 2s 2d per hundred feet for slitting work. Very roughly, a 1597 shilling – 12 old pennies – was probably worth £10 in today’s money, so these were hardly generous rates of pay, even then.
During the construction of the almshouses, four skulls and various human bones were unearthed in the ground. Rev Finche sought out John Outred, the last landlord of the Checquers, to see if he knew anything about them. He denied all knowledge.
A letter sent to Whitgift by Finche contained the news of the find, but no further comment was made.
As well as ensuring that the work was completed to a high standard, Rev Finche was conscious about not letting the costs spiral. He wrote to Whitgift that he had paid 10shillings for four loads of flint which were put into a foundation trench. That saved using 1,000 bricks, which would have cost 16shillings.
The total cost to build the Hospital of the Holy Trinity was £2,716 11s 11d – just over £500,000 in today’s money.
Whitgift managed to attract many benefactors who wanted to support his philanthropic work. William Thornehill, one of the Archbishop’s chaplains, paid for the window in the chapel. The stone, commemorating Thornehill’s gift, can still be seen above the window in George Street today.
“Eboracensis hanc fenestram fieri fecit 1597”: A man from Yorkshire had this window made.
One of the Archbishop’s lawyers, Edward Aylworth, paid for the stained glass windows in the Hall.
Abraham Hartwell, Whitgift’s secretary, presented a Bible to the chapel. This gift is of particular interest today. It is known as “The Treacle Bible”, because of the error found printed in the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 8, Verse 22. It reads: “There is no treacle in Gilead.”
It should read: “There is no balm in Gilead.” The Bible remains one of the Whitgift Foundations treasured possessions.
Christopher Wormeall, to whom Rev Finch wrote updates on the progress of the building, donated a wooden tablet on which were drawn up the Ten Commandments. This has survived and hangs today on the chapel wall.
As well as the building plan, which was based on a Cambridge College quad, Whitgift ensured that the area around it was appealing. The adjoining land was, of course, built over many years ago, so only written evidence survives to inform modern day visitors that there was once a bowling alley, a walnut tree garden, apricot trees and 600 “rose-sets”, which were brought from Worcestershire to Croydon in 1614.
Whitgift drew up the terms on which people could be admitted to the Almshouses. There were 28 places available, for both men and women, with another 12 places if funds permitted. Men aged 60 or over who served in the Archbishop’s household either in Lambeth or in Croydon were given priority. Other spaces were filled with people from the parishes of Croydon and Lambeth who “were honest, of good report, of the right age and of the poorest sort”.
Accommodation was for single people, although Whitgift himself made an exception to allow Thomas Elthon, who was from the parish of Croydon, to be admitted with his wife. Elthon was described as 71 years old and blind. The only descriptor for his wife was that she was “aged”.
A porter was to be appointed from within the residents whose responsibility it was to unlock the gates each morning and close up in the evening.
Archbishop’s appeal: Roisha Hughes, the Whitgift Foundation’s CEO, with her charity’s founder’s letter to Queen Elizabeth I asking for permission to build a hospital and school
Every resident had to attend daily services in the chapel. To try and them avoid falling asleep during the services, pews were installed made without any backs, so that the members of the congregation were forced to sit up. Men had to sit on one side of the chapel, with women on the other.
Archbishop Whitgift took the Audience Chamber in the Almshouses and the adjoining rooms for his own use.
It was here that a soldier, posted outside Whitgift’s rooms for security, was said to have fallen asleep and tumbled down the steep stairs, breaking his neck. Some people claim to have seen the unfortunate man’s ghost.
One of Whitgift’s old rooms is now the office of the new chief executive of the Whitgift Foundation, Roisha Hughes. In the few months that she has been in her new job, she says she has neither seen nor heard anything which could be described as ghostly. GIve it time…
Today, the Almshouses, on the corner of George Street and the High Street, with trams rattling past every so often, are home to around a dozen individuals, one part of the Whitgift Foundation’s care programme.
Visitors wanting to glimpse inside can look forward to booking up a time during the Open House weekend in September.
Looking through the gate in the High Street into the garden might seem like looking back to another era. You might spot those Elizabethan bricks, with their impurities, but still surviving and standing strong.
Today, that space is an oasis of calm just metres away from the hubbub of the street. If anyone is to remembered by deeds rather than words, then Whitgift’s legacy can be said to be life-changing.
And despite the modern difficulties faced by the Foundation, the care still goes on.
David Morgan, pictured, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Anderson’s art captured Surrey greats and church monuments
- Find beauty in the mundane as Thames gives up lost treasures
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
Fascinating ,and thousands of people have walked past without giving the almshouses a second glance
Ive an elderly neighbour aged 91 who would love to visit the alms houses he has told me lots of interesting stories about croydon he is now in a wheelchair due to his dialysis but of very sound mind,especially on history his favourite subject,
I would be grateful if this would be possible
As the article mentions, there are plans to offer tours of the Almshouses during the Open House London weekend in September.