The second part of this series of blogs is dealing with life of the community in the almshouse. Most of the information on this can be deducted from the Statutes, which have survived. Continue reading
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Ewelme and its St Mary’s Church with the adjacent almshouse and school. This was an experience which has resonated with me since that day. It was an opportunity to come close to “normal” medieval people, not just the high-status people.
Ewelme is a village approx. 25 km south east of Oxford. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon “æwelme”, meaning a fresh spring, which refers to the stream which still runs through the village.
580 years ago, on 3 July 1437, William and Alice de la Pole, the Earl and Countess of Suffolk. received a royal licence to found an almshouse supporting a community of two priests and thirteen poor men, which was to be called God’s House. The priests and poor men were to pray for the King, and the Earl and Countess during their lives and later for their souls, as well as the parents and friends and benefactors of the Earl and Countess. Continue reading
Dottie Tales 