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About the Author
Linda Crust was born in Goxhill, Lincolnshire, and worked on the Leicester Mercury for some years. Linda has always had a fascination with history and a natural ability as a writer.
Over the past 15 years she has become well known for her books on local history, her children's books, and for her regular features in 'Lincolnshire Life' magazine.
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Linda Crust
Published by the Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire
Paperback
A4 (297 x 209mm)
80 pages
80 illustrations
ISBN: 0-948639-38-5
RRP: £12.95 plus £2.15 for postage and packing
The provision of almshouses is a remarkable expression of piety and compassion reaching down the centuries from medieval to modern times. Almshouse buildings have created a distinctive form of architecture, which may still be seen in our towns and villages. Many people may think that the provision of almshouses is a feature of the past, but the almshouse movement remains a very real and active element of social housing to this day.
The care of the poor, aged and sick was put on an institutional basis from the eleventh century with the establishment of medieval hospitals.These were very different from the modern concept of hospitals, being concerned primarily with spiritual care, bodily needs being of secondary importance. Following the Reformation the emphasis of care shifted but the founding of almshouses by wealthy and (usually) pious benefactors continued. The nineteenth century brought the concept of neat poor people (often in uniforms) in equally neat ranges of almshouses. In the twentieth century almshouses merge almost imperceptibly into everyday housing to the point that few of us realise where the modern almshouses are.
This book lists every medieval hospital and almshouse foundation known in Lincolnshire. There are nearly 200 establishments covered in the book from leper hospitals founded in the early 12th century to modern bungalows still being provided by almshouse charities in the year 2000. The subject is dealt with chronologically in three chapters: 1100 – 1550 Medieval Hospitals; 1550 – 1800 The Evolution of the Almshouse; 1800 – 2000 From Picturesque to Plain. Each chapter has its own gazetteer section, and there is a final chapter by Paula Judson discussing the architectural styles of the buildings and changes through the centuries. The work is extensively illustrated with 80 photographs, plans and drawings.
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