Home About the Village Alms Houses and Local Charities

Alms Houses and Local Charities

Holdway Cottages (formerly Almshouses ) offer a comfortable home to eligible (age 55 years or over) tenants, originally to 'spinsters of the village of good repute'. The trustees respond to need and change the criteria from time to time. There was much speculation as to how the three ladies would get on with a male tenant a few years ago when the first was allocated a tenancy. He loved looking after 'his ladies' and they must have reciprocated for now men are as often allocated a tenancy as the ladies are.

Holdway Cottages

Before modernization in the eighties although described by Dr Stephens in 1885 as being 'a quiet and comfortable retreat for old people after the heat and burden of a life of labour' they were draughty, damp and inconvenient with a front door opening straight onto the High Street. The modernization changed all that and now they are warm, dry and convenient, although the stairs can still pose a problem for some.

The workmen must have been very skilled because it is hard to spot where the front doors were previously, showing that flint work is still a local art form. Fortunately the yellow and pink roses on either end of the terrace survived the building work and remain a joy for all to behold.

St Mary Bourne has established a United Charities Trust to help anyone in the Parish who finds him/herself in need due to sickness, financial hardship or infirmity. While it can provide heaters or help with expenses perhaps a sign that it moves with the times is the provision, if your memory is a little shaky, of safety pill dispensers available from the surgery. Don't forget to ask for them on your next visit.

top of page

This page was last edited on 9 Aug 2006