The Gascoigne Alms-houses Aberford

I have blipped this building before but here is a little insight on them

The picture is of the alms-houses built by the architect George Fowler Jones,  Following the death of their father [Aged 80] and before him their two elder brothers [Thomas aged 35 & Richard aged 34] all in the space of a year, it is perhaps not surprising that the Gascoigne sisters [Isabella & Elizabeth] decided to commemorate their passing by building the charitable alms-houses. They engaged Fowler Jones to design a building to house the less fortunate inhabitants of the estates, an alms-house.
 
 The design and construction were carried out with speed that would make todays efforts seem paltry. A neo gothic building was constructed in about a year to accommodate twelve inhabitants, beautifully designed in stone, the structure to this day is a major land mark in the locality.

The alms-houses are often confused by people imagining it is a medieval structure perhaps a church or some other religious building, however it is simply an elaborate Victorian building in a gothic revival style, which provided homes for poor people; a chapel for them at one end [south] and a dining hall at the other. The building has four bays each side of the central tower, these were the homes of the people offered shelter by the Gascoigne sisters. In each, although hidden following recent development, is a small stone spiral staircase to get to the upper floor, frankly given the age of the inhabitants it must have been a daunting task at the end of each day to negotiate the staircase!

We pass this often in the week when we walk the dog up Bunkers Hill, which is the Great North Road which goes through Aberford, and took traffic North until they built the by pass which is now the A1 and a thriving village just tended to loose all it's shops as only locals go through it now, something that often happens when they build bypasses.