The Faversham Almshouses
& Faversham Municipal Charities
History
The story of Faversham Municipal Charities, its Almshouses and benefactors
Victorian vision unified scattered homes within an architectural delight
The Faversham Almshouses, administered by Faversham Municipal Charities, have existed at their present day site in South Road since 1863, although their origins date back much farther to 1614.
Today the Almshouses consist of 69 units, most of them in the splendid 1863 building, the largest and arguably the finest scheme of its kind in Kent.
The site has bedsits and one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. They provide affordable housing for those in need and the opportunity to live independent lives.
The 1863 building superseded several smaller groups of almshouses scattered about the town. These included a group provided in Preston Street under the will of Thomas Mendfield, who died in 1614 while mayor.
Rebuilding on such a grand scale and to so high a standard was made possible by a bequest to the town by Henry Wreight (1760-1840), a solicitor and former mayor.
The building was designed by two Kent architects, Hooker and Wheeler. Although they are not well-known, their talent is clear from the way they handled the commission. The huge building dominates its setting, but does not overpower it because of the skilful way in which its bulk is broken up.
Although the main range is 470ft long, there is no monotony because it is punctuated by projecting bays and by a central chapel, whose Bath stone is a balance to the brickwork of the dwellings.
The flats were modernised during 1981 and 1982, and were re-opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, of which confederation Faversham is a member.
In 1989, work was completed on new accommodation of 16 flats, designed to harmonise with the old, at the rear of the site. A community room for the almspeople, of whom there are just over 80, has been provided.
The story of the Victorian development of the sites is told in The Building of the New Almshouses in Faversham 1860-1863
by John Blackford,
a Trustee and former Headmaster of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham.
It is available from the Clerk to the Trustees, priced £10.
Background
Faversham Municipal Charities (FMC) was established when a national reform, the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, transferred administration of the town’s charitable funds from the corporation to the new body of charity trustees.
There are fifteen trustees. Five of them are appointed by Faversham Town Council for four-year terms. The other ten are co-opted trustees appointed by FMC for five-year terms.
FMC holds in trust the freehold of Faversham Recreation Ground, which was opened in 1860, its cost having been met mainly from the bequest of Henry Wreight (died 1840), but also by subscription by townspeople.
Henry Wreight
Henry Wreight (1760-1840) a bachelor lawyer thrice Mayor of Faversham, left the town about £70,000, one of it's two biggest bequests, in real terms, with Henry Hatch's in 1533. It funded provision of the Recreation Ground and the Almshouses; a trace is still in FMC. A Guildhall portrait has Wreight with plans for almshouses he set up in his lifetime.
Peter Head
Peter Head, an estate agent and a trustee of Faversham Municipal Charities, was mayor of Faversham in 1967. He died in a road crash in 1978. He left about £500,000 to help the Almshouses chapel and the residents' lounge and to aid other FMC charities' income.
His bequest funded, in the early 1990's,
the chapel spires' restoration.
George Beckett
George Beckett, Faversham's mayor in 1785, 1794 and 1804 was a grocer at 1 Court Street. On his death in 1830, the supporter of good causes left funds to the town to aid needy housekeepers and the vicar of Faversham. The Guildhall has a portrait of Beckett, given by Richard Gibbs, the William Gibbs School founder, who called him "a bright example."
Charities
The Trustees of The Faversham Municipal Charities 2010 administer The Faversham Municipal Charity 2010, whose purposes are almshouses, education, relief in need and ownership of Faversham Recreation Ground, and The Faversham Heritage Fund and Henry Hatch Charity.
Faversham Municipal Charities 2010 represents a reconstitution of the Faversham Municipal Charities body formed in 1835 and amalgamation of more than 20 charitable trusts of various sizes to create a more manageable structure of only two charities. The process was begun in 2010 and completed in late 2012 with the Charity Commission issuing schemes for the two new charities.
The Faversham Heritage Fund and Henry Hatch Charity was formed by combining the Faversham Heritage Fund, which had been created in 2006 in memory of local conservation officer Derek Church, with the Hatch Charity, a 1533 bequest by the merchant venturer Henry Hatch. The heritage fund's broad purposes of preserving and improving Faversham's historic buildings, townscape, landscape and artefacts run wider than the original purposes of Hatch.
FMC has always been ready to accept gifts and bequests. Trustees would be glad to discuss potential donors' ideas for extending the town’s fine history of benefactions farther into the 21st century, as it was extended when Faversham Heritage Fund was set up with £25,000 given by Donald Church in memory of his brother, Derek, a former conservation officer with Swale Council.
Merged Funds
Funds and charities that were amalgamated in the 2010/2012 reorganisation include:
Peter Head's Charity (scheme, 1987): for almshouses chapel
(Henry) Wreight's General Fund (from 1840 bequest)
John Caslock's Charity (will, 1751): training and education
(Edward) Jacob's Charity (deed, 1826)
Dan Fund (1954 will of Nellie Dan)
Telfer Memorial Fund (1923)
George Beckett's Charity for Poor Housekeepers (will, 1830)
Elizabeth Thomas Charity (will, 1719): for charity school
Samuel Preston's Charity (will, 1640): for public lecture
William Saker's Charity (will, 1594): for church lecture
Ann Sherwin's Charity (will, 1802): Sunday school at parish church
Sarah Wacher's Nursing Fund (1912)
Arthur Higham Charity (will, 1916)