Volume XXI: The Hellard Almshouses and other Stevenage Charities, 1482-2005
Records relating to the Stevenage Almshouse Trust begin in 1482, when a covenant was drawn up by which three local men transferred land called Gleviscroft, at Woollenwick Green, to Stephen Hellard, rector of Stevenage, and two others. The purpose of the gift was to provide a rental income that would be used towards building and maintaining almshouses. When Hellard died in 1506 he bequeathed to the town 'All Christian Souls House, which house I have built for the habitation of three poor folk without any rent therefore to be paid so long as the said house does or shall endure'. The Almshouse Trust has operated continuously since that time. The records of the almshouses and other charities provide a previously untapped source for research in to the lives of people in the Stevenage district and further afield. They include the names and occupations of trustees, the poor and others, together with financial records and details of land holdings. The latter are particularly important in Stevenage, where development had obliterated so much of the ancient landscape and connections with the past.
- Edited and with an Introduction by Margaret Ashby; also a preface by Evelyn Lord
- xviii + 267 pages, fully indexed
- 12 illustrations including 1 in colour and 2 maps
- ISBN 0-9547561-2-6
£6 (+£4 p&p )