Widows' Almshouses, Nantwich

The Widows' Almshouses, also known as the Wilbraham or Wilbraham's Almshouses and as the Widows' Hospital, are former almshouses for six widows in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. They are located at numbers 26–30 on the north side of Welsh Row, on the junction with Second Wood Street (at SJ6486452420). The almshouses were founded by Roger Wilbraham in 1676–7 in memory of his deceased wife in three existing cottages built in 1637; they were the earliest almshouses in the town for women. In 1705, Wilbraham also founded the Old Maids' Almshouse for two old maids in a separate building (now demolished) on Welsh Row. They remained in use as almshouses until the 1930s. The timber-framed Widows' Almshouses building, which is listed at grade II, has subsequently been used as a café, public house, night club, restaurant, wine bar and hotel. Nikolaus Pevsner considers Welsh Row "the best street of Nantwich". The street has many listed buildings and is known for its mixture of architectural styles, including other black-and-white cottages, Georgian town houses such as Townwell House and number 83, and Victorian buildings such as the former Grammar School, Primitive Methodist Chapel and Savings Bank. Two other former almshouses remain on Welsh Row: the Wilbraham's Almshouses were founded in 1613 by Wilbraham's ancestor Sir Roger Wilbraham, and the Tollemache Almshouses were built in 1870 to replace these by John Tollemache, a descendant of Sir Roger Wilbraham.