Trinity Green Almshouses

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Almshouses at Trinity Green.

Trinity Green Almshouses (formerly Trinity Hospital) are a series of Grade I listed almshouses on Mile End Road in Whitechapel[1] in London. They were originally built in 1695 to provide housing for retired sailors, and are the oldest almshouses in Central London.[2] The buildings were damaged during the Second World War, and were restored in the 1950s by London County Council.

History[]

The Trinity Green Almshouses were built in 1695 by the Corporation of Trinity House to provide housing for "28 decay’d Masters & Commanders of Ships or ye Widows of such";[3] the land was given to the Corporation by Captain Henry Mudd of Ratcliffe. The almshouses are believed to have been designed by Sir William Ogbourne,[4][5][a] and the houses were organised into two rows, with a central green and chapel.[4][8][9] The chapel is in the parish of St Dunstan's, Stepney.[10]

In 1735, Trinity Green had 28 people, at a cost of 12 shillings per resident per month.[11] In 1895–96, Trinity Green was threatened with closure, after Sir Frederic Leighton proposed that the almshouses be destroyed. The closure was prevented due to a public campaign[4][7][12] led by Charles Robert Ashbee, who set up a Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London.[13] The almshouses were the first buildings to be put on his preservation register, which eventually became the listed building system.[14]

In 1927, a bronze bust memorial for William Booth was installed at Trinity Green; in the 19th century, Booth had preached in the Vine Tavern in front of the almshouses, which had led to the founding of The Salvation Army.[15][14] In the Second World War, the Trinity Green almshouses were damaged, with those almshouses north of the chapel being destroyed.[4][16] In 1950, Trinity Green became a Grade I listed building; the listing included the almshouses, chapel, gates, railings and walls.[17] In 1954, London County Council bought and restored the non-destroyed houses, including the restoration of the chapel with 18th-century panelling from Bradmore House in Hammersmith.[16][4] When Mile End Road was built, Trinity Green's location was altered from rural peace and quiet into traffic.[6]

Trinity Green was included on a Mile End mural created in 2011.[18] In 2016, local residents complained at proposals for Sainsbury's to build a 28-storey tower block less than 80 yards (73 m) from the Trinity Green almshouses; they argued that the tower block would cast a shadow over the almshouses.[19][20]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Some sources say that the architect was Sir Christopher Wren.[6][7]

References[]

  1. ^ "New Hope for Trinity Green Almshouses | Spitalfields Life".
  2. ^ Prynn, Jonathan; Bourke, Joanna (4 February 2016). "Row over Sainsbury's scheme for tower near Whitechapel almshouses". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  3. ^ Jones, Richard (2004). Walking Dickensian London. New Holland Publishers. p. 172. ISBN 978-1-84330-483-8.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Trinity Green". London Gardens Online. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  5. ^ "Return To Trinity Green". Spitalfields Life. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  6. ^ a b Davies, Andrew John (24 October 1995). "site unseen : Trinity Almshouses, Greenwich, London". The Independent. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  7. ^ a b "The Trinity Almshouses". Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. 1 December 1895. p. 6. Retrieved 9 May 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ Dragicevich, Peter; Fallon, Steve; Filou, Emilie; Harper, Damian (January 2016). Lonely Planet London. Lonely Planet. ISBN 9781760340247. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Bethnal Green: Dog Row". British History Online. 1998. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  10. ^ Hodson, J.S. (1839). The Ecclesiastical Legal Guide to Archbishops, Bishops and Their Secretaries, the Clergy ... &c. With Forms of the Different Instruments, and Particulars of the Ceremonies ... and Cases and Opinions from Eminent Counsel ... Carefully Selected and Arranged by a Barrister, Etc. Vol. 1. p. 203. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  11. ^ Stow, John; Mottlet, John (1735). A survey of the cities of London and Westminster, borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  12. ^ "The Trinity Almshouses". The Morning Post. 28 November 1895. p. 2. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  13. ^ Delafons, John (2005), Politics and Preservation: A Policy History of the Built Heritage 1882–1996, Routledge, p. 30, ISBN 9781135813079
  14. ^ a b Glinert, Ed (May 2012), "Trinity Almshouses", The London Compendium, Penguin Publishing, ISBN 9780718192037, retrieved 12 May 2016
  15. ^ "A Walk Down The Mile End Rd". Spitalfields Life. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  16. ^ a b Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben; Keay, Julia; Keay, John (March 2010). The London Encyclopaedia. Macmillan Publishers. pp. 945–946. ISBN 9781405049252. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  17. ^ "Trinity Green (Almshouses and Chapel) including Gates, Railings, Wall and Piers". Historic England. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Mural: Mile End Mural". London Remembers. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  19. ^ Brooke, Mike (10 February 2016). "Tower Block 'shadow' threat to 1696 Trinity Green Almshouses at Mile End Gate". Docklands and East London Advertiser. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  20. ^ Hurrell, Alex (18 February 2016). "Opposition grows to Sainsbury's Whitechapel "skyscraper"". East London Lines. Retrieved 8 May 2016.

Coordinates: 51°31′15″N 0°03′17″W / 51.5208°N 0.0548°W / 51.5208; -0.0548

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