Vachel Almshouses
Encyclopedia
Vachel Almshouses is a terrace
Terrace (building)
A terrace is an outdoor, occupiable extension of a building above ground level. Although its physical characteristics may vary to a great degree, a terrace will generally be larger than a balcony and will have an "open-top" facing the sky...

 of almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...

s in the town of Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

.

History

In 1634 almshouses were built in St Mary's Butts
St Mary's Butts
St Mary's Butts is a thoroughfare in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. On its west side is the Broad Street Mall. It is connected to the north with Broad Street, the pedestrianised primary high street of Reading...

, which were called 'St Mary’s Almshouses'. The almshouses were built by Thomas Vachel. A plaque fixed on the building reads:

They were demolished in 1867 and replaced with new buildings at a new location in Castle Hill, with money coming from the sale of the land. The new almshouses were renamed Vachel Almshouses after Thomas Vachel. They were designed by architect William Henry Woodman. The Almshouses were modernised in 1960-62.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK