Mono Monday – Buildings

My contribution to today’s challenge is the Bedehouse that sits in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Higham Ferrers. I’ve included a little of its history below.

“The reason for the erection of the fine old building which is the historic Bedehouse was originally to house the Bedesmen. About the year 1422, when planning his College at Higham Ferrers, Archbishop Henry Chichele - Primate of All England from 1414 -1443 and a native son of the town, founded "In a place adjoining the Vicarage and the Churchyard", his Bede House or Hospital to be a dwelling place for 12 men over 50 years old to live "in close company" with one woman to look after them.

 It consisted, as was the manner of those times, of a common open Hall, and was probably the finest dwelling in all Higham outside the Castle, Each man had his little cubicle with its locker, divided off by a screen from his fellows, and the rest of the Hall formed a common room with a fine open fireplace, itself a relic of even older times. On the South, a sheltered garden was added by taking part of the land of the Vicarage.

In those days, no old age pensions were provided by a welfare state, but Henry Chichele provided each old man and the woman with a pension of 1d per day, at a time when the working man’s wage was little more than 5 new pence a week, and the Bedesman’s silver penny was worth more than the modern pension. He could afford to buy meat for his Sunday dinner with enough to be put on one side to be "powdered up against Wednesday" by the Bedeswoman. Each Bedesman had besides "As much black frieze as will make every man a gown and the woman also". Five shillings was allotted for filling the lamp which was to hang in the midst of the Hall, and five shillings for a barber to come every Friday at noon to shave them and dress their heads and to make them clean. Every year they had nine loads of wood again at Christmas and 10 shillings for charcoal or other fuel for a brazier to heat water for washing”.