Building record MLI42912 - Bedehouses, Gospelgate and Schoolhouse Lane, Louth
Summary
Almshouses, Gospelgate and Schoolhouse Lane, originally founded in 1551 and rebuilt in 1869.
Type and Period (2)
Protected Status/Designation
Full Description
Almshouse, marked on the 1906 County Series map. {1}{2}
King Edward VI Bedehouses, almshouses for 12 poor people in Louth were linked to the foundation of the King Edward VI School and formed part of the school buildings. They were probably founded at about the same time as the school in 1551. A new school and almshouses were built on the old site to designs by Fowler in 1868-69. A statue of King Edward VI looks over the schol playground from a niche on the north wall of the bedehouses. {3}{4}
The original bedehouses in Louth had been founded for twelve poor people in 1551 by King Edward VI. In 1868-69 the bedehouses and part of the Grammar School (which are attached via a cloister) were built on the same site to the designs of the local architect James Fowler. The Bedehouses were described in 1892 as ‘exceedingly pretty structures, with dwellings for 12 poor people, who have each 5s. per week’. Each pair of dwellings was converted into a one-bedroom unit in about 2000 and are still used for their original purpose. The building occupies a plot on the corner of Schoolhouse Lane and Gospelgate. It is built of red brick with ashlar stone dressings and has a slate roof covering. The building has a Tudoresque, neo-vernacular character emphasising the historic link with the former mid 16th century bedehouses. It has steeply pitched roofs that have terracotta cresting and raised stone-coped gables. The roof is dominated by tall, paired brick chimney stacks. The northern gabled end incorporates a highly decorative original 16th century stone statue of Edward VI in a canopied and corbelled niche. Inside the dwellings retain their basic original form. The front doors open into a small hall, either side of which a segmental arched opening leads into a bedroom and a sitting room. The interiors are very plain and, although they have lost their fireplaces, many of the original moulded door frames and four-panelled doors survive. Part of the building provides accommodation on two storeys which is relatively unusual for an almshouse. For the full description of this listed building please refer to the National Heritage List for England. {5}{6}
Sources/Archives (6)
- <1> SLI5998 Bibliographic Reference: Naomi Field. 1978. Louth: The Hidden Town. p.8.
- <2> SLI5466 Map: Ordnance Survey. 1906. Ordnance Survey County Series twenty-five inch map 1906. paper. 1:2500. 1906; 48/3.
- <3> SLI9009 Bibliographic Reference: Linda Crust. 2002. Lincolnshire Almshouses: Nine Centuries of Charitable Housing. pp.35-6.
- <4> SLI13339 Bibliographic Reference: Kaye, David and Scorer, Sam. 1992. Fowler of Louth. The Life and Works of James Fowler, Louth Architect 1828-1892. pp.40-1.
- <5> SLI13505 Unpublished Document: English Heritage / Historic England. 2011->. Advice Report from a Heritage Asset Assessment. Case No. 478766.
- <6> SLI13386 Website: Historic England (formerly English Heritage). 2011->. The National Heritage List for England. http://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/. 1415796.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred TF 32597 87221 (25m by 19m) Surveyed |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | LOUTH, EAST LINDSEY, LINCOLNSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (1)
Please contact the HER for details.
External Links (0)
Record last edited
Mar 21 2021 8:35PM
Feedback?
Your feedback is welcome. If you can provide any new information about this record, please contact us.