Subject

Discover National Archives gives: "Shortly before his death in 1666, the Reverend Dr William Spurstowe, Vicar of Hackney, built six almshouses near Church Street, Hackney, for six ancient widows from the parish of Hackney. His brother, Henry Spurstowe, completed his work by endowing the almshouses with two closes of pasture called Badbrooke's Meadows containing eight acres of land and one close of pasture called Peckwell or Pickwell Field containing eight acres, all of which (including the almshouses) were copyhold of the manor of Kings Hold. Henry Spurstowe transferred the almshouses and land to trustees by a deed of gift dated 22 August 1667. The deeds of gift was lost some time between 1754 and 1800 and no precise record of the terms of the trust remained." And goes on to explain that the charity was augmented and then, in 1819, rebuilt on the same site. And then in 1906 the Charity Commissioners approved a scheme whereby Bishop Wood's Almshouses were to be administered by the Trustees of Dr Spurstowe's Charity.

Spurstowe's Almshouses were demolished in 1966 and replaced by new almshouses situated in Navarino Road, Hackney. The Archeological Evaluation of the site refers to a 1750 watercolour of the alsmhouses but does not show the painting and we have not found it elsewhere.

Our image is a screen grab from the 1955 "Around the World with Orson Welles" - the Chelsea Pensioners segment. Sorry for the blurry picture. The camera lingers on the plaque but only pans across the building with the residents outside so this is the best image we could capture.