Description

HERTFORD

TL3212SE CHURCHFIELDS
817-1/20/37 (North side)
Harrison Almshouses Nos.1, 2 and 3

GV II

Formerly known as: Harrison Almshouses Nos 1, 2 and 3 CHURCH
PATH.
Almshouses, originally a block of 6 but now refurbished as 3.
Dated 1854, with C20 alterations. Red brick, Flemish bond,
with cream brick dressings, Welsh slated roof with single and
double diagonally shafted chimneystacks with band and
oversailing cap.
EXTERIOR: single storey, front elevation has 6 small paned
wood casement windows recessed under rubbed cream brick flat
arches, with yellow brick quoins on jambs, and 3 projecting
coped gabled porches, with rubbed cream brick elliptical
arches and quoins, recessed C20 half-glazed doors, spacing
W:P:W:W:P:W:W:P:W, with central stone coped Dutch gable, and
stone coped Dutch gables with external chimneybreasts left and
right flank elevations. Inscribed Portland stone tablet in
upper central gable laid by John Villiers Townshend to
commemorate rebuilding of the Almshouses, in the presence of
Lord Dudley Coutts Stewart.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the Townshends were successors at Balls Park
to the Harrisons; Sir John Harrison (d.1669) left »100 to be
invested in property to produce an annual income for the
benefit of the poor in All Hallows (All Saints) Parish
Hertford, and his widow built and endowed 4 almshouses in
Butchery (Bircherley) Green before her death in 1705, her
grandson augmented the funds, and the almshouses were rebuilt
on the Church Path site in 1854. Bircherley Green had by then
become one of the worst slums in the Borough.
(Turnor L: History of Hertford: Hertford: 1830-: 366-8,
379-80; Hertfordshire Countryside: Moodey G: Georgian
brickwork of the choicest sort: Letchworth: 1946-1973: 28;
Page FM: History of Hertford: Hertford: 1993-: 92, 177).

Listing NGR: TL3293212481

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26559228

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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