Wilmot Almshouses

The Wilmot Almshouse Charity

Robert Wilmot the elder, of Chaddesden, by his will in 1638 gave his son Edward, tithes of the Manor of Denby of 12 pence a week to ten poor people of good and honest life. These people had already been placed by him in ten little houses in Bridgegate, Derby.

Every Christmas each poor man and woman was to have a black gown faced with red, of the like cloth and manner as the poor people then in the houses used to wear. Every two years they were also to have a red cape of about 2 shillings and each Christmas they were to be given 3 yards of linen cloth at 12 pence per yard to make themselves shirts and smocks. They were also to have a dinner at Christmas or be allowed 8 pence for the same.

At the same time he also gave his son Robert lands to do similarly for six people (four men and two women) at Chaddesden. The Chaddesden almshouses were built close to the west end of St Mary's parish church.

In 1727 the then Mayor of Derby complained of the mismanagement of the Charity to the Commissioners and they ordered that Robert Wilmot of Chaddesden and Isaac Borough Esq should, yearly, inspect the accounts and supervise the admission and ejection of pensioners. Some time later commissioners found that it had been a frequent practice to appoint persons to receive the pensions without requiring them to live in the houses, and that other persons were allowed to live in the houses rent free. Sir Robert Wilmot ordered that this practice should be discontinued.

The original Bridgegate almshouses, with thatched roofs, were rebuilt in 1814 at a cost of over Ł250 by the then Sir Robert Wilmot. They were demolished in 1934.

The Wilmot Chairs

The Derby Museum collection includes some chairs with plaques that read “All the oak in this chair was derived from the demolition of the timber framed almshouses in Bridge Gate Derby in 1934. These houses were built in 1638 by Sir Robert Wilmot of Chaddesden on whose estate the oak probably grew, in the great beam appeared seven hundred annular rings, so this oak is probably over one thousand years old. The original houses were brick faced in 1814.”

The chairs were originally owned by Mr Alfred Goodey and sold at an auction sale following his death for Ł5 10s. Between 1936 and 1945 Alfred Goodey donated over 600 pictures of old Derby to Derby Museum and Art Gallery. These pictures include a painting of Bridgegate in 1922 by W E Mosley, appearing in the picture are the Wilmot Almshouses. These were for “ten poor men, and four poor women, of good and honest life.”

This picture of the Chaddesden almshouses is from a postcard, believed to have been published early in the 20th century. The building with a tall chimney in the background was built in 1736/37 as a school house. It later became the Verger's cottage.

The almshouses were condemned as unfit for human habitation in 1956 and demolished in 1961, the last residents being rehoused two years previously. The site is marked by a patch of tarmac facing the west door of the church that is used for car parking. It is hard to believe that six dwellings once stood there.

References and Further Reading

The Wilmot Almshouse Charity in the Derby Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 18 January 1911 via Tony Bowler.
Previously published in Chaddesden Historical Group Newsletter 22

The Wilmot Chairs originally published in Newsletter 52, based on information provided by Pam Helm.

Tales from the Almshouses by Peter Cholerton.