It’s staggering number to think that 30,000 souls dwell within a smaller number of Almshouse Trusts dotted throughout the land. They are there, in every great city and a good many a great town too.
These humble abodes for the poor have existed for a millennia and continue to grow year on year.
By the 1500, around 800 almshouses or hospitals as they were more commonly then known, had been paid for by charitable donation from rich benefactors.
It has always been seen as the done thing for rich folk to help care for the poor, be it via the Dole Cupboard or by indirect means.
Taking care of a stranger has hidden healing properties for both the giver and the receiver.
For most, without a silver spoon and a pot of gold, we can feel good by holding a door open or helping the infirm cross the road, but building a shelter for the weakened and weary, well this is doing things on a large scale, leaving a scratched mark of one’s life beyond time.
So look around the place you find yourself in, for some have quite a few. Nottingham boasts the highest, followed closely behind by Winchester.