Almshouses Stoneleigh

These wonderful almshouses stand in the centre of Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. They were originally built to provide homes for the poor by Sir Thomas and Lady Alice Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey in 1576. The original residents were all unmarried. There were five women and five men who were from the parish - most of them were local tenants of long-standing. In order to live there, they had to go to church on Saturday, Sunday and holy days and attend a quarterly sermon preached by the local vicar. Residents originally received a shilling a week to live on, which was quite a generous amount at that time.
Each house originally had one room upstairs and one down and there was a shared garden at the rear. Modern facilities have since been added, and extensions have been built at the rear, but they are still quite small in size.
I had to take this photo at such a sharp angle to avoid including all the many cars that are now parked on the road outside.