Mrs Stable's Almshouses

Mrs Stable's Almshouses were founded in 1865 in memory of Charles Stable with an endowment of £500 by Mrs Stable, niece of Charles Swaisland who built the Clergy House next door, now used as the parish office of St Paulinus Church (q.v.). Four of the almshouses were to house poor single women of 60 and over, the fifth let annually for rent. The almshouses, now administered by St Paulinus Church, consist of 2-storey houses constructed of yellow brick with white brick trim, now blackened with age, and slate roofs. There is a central porch and two windows per floor. In 1909 a later wing was added with one window per floor. At the same time a bath house was also built on the far side of the Clergy House. The Swaisland and Stable Trust Deed of 1876 was made between Revd Henry Moreland Austen of the Red House, Sevenoaks, a distant cousin of Jane Austen and formerly rector of Crayford, and Revd Benjamin Frederick Smith, rector of Crayford and two others. The almshouse garden is on level ground with straight paths, informal layout with recent planting and mature trees, including 2 pollarded limes and 2 holm oaks, one of which is damaged. Mixed privet and box hedges, mown grass and flower beds planted with bedding, bulbs and perennials. On the boundary is part of old iron field railing in the hedge. Across Iron Mill Lane to the north on land formerly glebe land of St Paulinus, nos. 11-13 are another range of almshouses, Pims Almshouses built in 1910, with a plaque stating they were 'presented by Theodore Pim Esquire formerly of Martens Grove (q.v.) in memory of his wife Annie September 1910'.