Introduction to Crowborough Almshouses, including a brief history

For one hundred and fifty years Crowborough has had an almshouse situated in Beacon Road, close to the town centre. While number of benefactors have been associated with the town of Crowborough, the first almshouse, known today as Mrs de Lannoy Cottages, was built following a most generous endowment given by Mrs Elizabeth de Lannoy in 1874. At that time the village of Crowborough was part of the parish of Rotherfield and the almshouse was known as the Crowborough Cross Almshouses.

This substantial dwelling, standing in its own grounds on the main road now known as the A26, offered secure accommodation for married couples or single women aged 50 years and above. In the early days the inmates (a most unedifying, if not disparaging name), shared a communal kitchen, and the toilets, less than convenient, were situated at the bottom of the garden.

This first almshouse was overseen by a charitable trust set up under the 1853 Charitable Trust Act, governed by, and known as, ‘the Quiet Resting Places Committee’. The first committee included Mrs de Lannoy, together with six other local persons known as the trustees with the Rector of the Parish of Rotherfield and the Vicar of St Johns Church together.

The establishment of this first almshouse coincided with a new phase in the development of the then rural village of Crowborough. The railways reached Crowborough in 1868 and in 1880 the village that had been part of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Rotherfield became a parish in its own right.

In 1905 and 1909 two further almshouses were built, one in Beeches Road and a second of similar design in East Beeches, and were administered through the charity ‘Haven Homes’. Once again both properties were funded by a generous benefactor, Miss Georgina Swift. At the beginning of the early twentieth century in Crowborough’s history, what is today a small town had been a rural village sitting alongside the Ashdown Forest and, not unsurprisingly, encompassing a level of deprivation, with obvious need for safe and inexpensive accommodation.

While the two charities had always been separate, they had a common cause, and were closely associated with All Saints Church and St John the Evangelist, Crowborough.

Over the years the three almshouse properties have been upgraded in line with residents’ needs and building standards and regulations. In 2016 the demand for additional accommodation became acute and, after due consideration of the need to use their resources most effectively, the trustees from the two almshouse charities concluded that they should merge, combine their funds, and seek a further almshouse property. A new scheme, retaining the names of the two original charities, was drawn up by the Charity Commission and agreed by the trustees of both charities and the merger was established in June 2017: Mrs de Lannoy & Haven Homes Almshouse Charity.

By good fortune a site in Jarvis Brook, part of Crowborough, was offered and four flats were built, named Swift House in recognition of Miss Georgina Swift. These new almshouses, to the rear of the former public house, The Plough and Horses (now converted into flats), were commissioned in March 2018, giving the merged charity a total of nineteen one-bedroom properties. All are set in attractive gardens and overseen by a group of dedicated trustees and officers.

One hundred and fifty years on, demand for this type of almshouse dwelling continues, and in today’s economic climate there is a growing need for yet further accommodation.