Historical Background

The almshouses in Groes Lwyd, Abergele were the brainchild of Winifred Bamford Hesketh, Countess of Dundonald (1859-1924).

In 1878, after an idyllic childhood at Gwrych Castle, Winifred, aged 19, entered into an allegedly arranged marriage with Capt (eventually Lt General) Douglas Cochrane, a Scottish nobleman and an ambitious professional soldier, six years her senior. In 1885, he succeeded to the title of the 12th Earl of Dundonald. Though she bore him two sons and three daughters, the relationship by all accounts was not a happy one, not helped, perhaps, by his long and frequent absences on military duties, and in Scotland.

On the death of her father, Robert Bamford Hesketh, in 1894, she became the sole heiress of the Gwrych Estate, and thus an independent lady of very great means; but she had also inherited her parents’ and grandparents’ desire to use some of these means for the benefit of others.

By 1906 the marriage was over, with the Earl being banned from the Castle. Thereafter, she became increasingly religious, and a very close friend of Dr Alfred Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph and later the first Archbishop of Wales.

By any standard, Winifred Bamford Hesketh was a remarkable woman. As well as being a diligent mother to her five children, and managing landed estates of several thousand acres single-handed, she also found time to espouse many worthy causes, including the disestablishment of the Church in Wales, of which she was a founder member; the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, into which she was inducted as a bard in 1910; the work and status of women; Welsh art and music; the Primrose League; the Cambrian Archaeological Society; and during WW1 converting two of her London homes into military hospitals.

But she was no less exercised by charitable deeds nearer home: in 1909 she built a superb Church Hall for the village of Llanddulas; and, like her mother before her, was ever mindful of the plight of the vulnerable in her own locality, especially children and the elderly. It was no surprise, therefore, when she died in 1924, that she had bequeathed £5000 and a parcel of land behind Gwrych Newydd (formerly Abergele Grill, now Roots Cafe) to build a number of houses for “aged or impoverished persons of good character” from the parish of Abergele.

Had Winifred’s instructions been acted upon promptly, the £5000 and the plot of land would have been sufficient to build and maintain six or more almshouses in a fairly central location in the town. Indeed, plans were submitted to the Charity Commissioners in July 1938 by the then Vicar, Rev H. R. Hughes, but they received a mixed report. Whilst the Commissioners were broadly satisfied with the type of house proposed, the number would have to be reduced to “probably five, and so leaving a greater sum in reserve than originally contemplated”. This was due to problems inherent in their position: the lack of an adequate access road to the main street; and having to deal with both a stream and a public footpath traversing the site.

Understandably, with WW2 looming, the project was left in abeyance – that is, until 1956, when a new Vicar, Rev Llewelyn Hughes resolved to put into effect the Countess’s will. By then, the capital had grown to £8000, but its value relative to building costs had shrunk, so that only two almshouses were now thought feasible, thus rendering the designated plot too large.

Nothing daunted, Rev Hughes pressed ahead, and by April 1957, with the help of Mr Harry Cleaver, the St Asaph Diocesan Registrar, he had drafted an acceptable modus operandi, or ‘Scheme’, for what became known as the Winifred Bamford Hesketh Almshouses charity. That ‘Scheme’ has stood the test of time, and is still largely adhered to today, including the specifications for Trustees: the Vicar, ex officio, and four co-opted Trustees, all members of the Church of England or the Church in Wales. [Note: in an Extraordinary Meeting of Trustees on 8th May, 2018 it was decided to make the following amendments (1) that the total number of trustees be increased from five to six (one ex officio and five co-opted), and (2) that the incumbent, if he/she so wishes, may nominate, in consultation with the Co-opted Trustees, another competent person from the Aled Mission Area as the ex officio trustee in his/her stead].

After careful planning and negotiation during 1958 and 1959, the newly-appointed Trustees decided to sell the original building plot and, with the Charity Commissioners’ blessing, purchase another from the Representative Body of the Church in Wales – a portion of the glebeland adjoining the Old Vicarage in Groes Lwyd. Then, in May 1960, with the fund now standing at £9,300, they accepted a tender of £6,120 from Hall and Kendrick of Kinmel Bay, to build six small single-storey houses on this plot.

Meanwhile, a wealthy local businessman, Mr J. C. Winkup, donated a further £3000 to the charity, specifically to defray the costs of purchasing the land (£750) and the professional fees (£250), and to form a £2000 nucleus for a requisite Repair Fund. Furthermore, this handsome gift put the accounts in such good order that the Charity Commissioners authorised the Trustees to accept a tender of £5,500, again from Hall and Kendrick, to build five more houses on the same site, one of which (No. 10) would be designated as the rent-free home of a full-time Warden in honour of Mr and Mrs Winkup’s benevolence.

On Saturday, 4th November 1961, after a delay of nearly 40 years, the almshouses were declared open by the 14th Countess of Dundonald. Whilst neglect and decay have all but destroyed Winifred’s grand, historic residence in the woods above Abergele, barely a mile away in Groes Lwyd, her generosity lives on through these small, unpretentious, 1960s-style bungalows.

[Most of the information for this article was obtained from the original Minutes of meetings and correspondence, currently kept in the Winifred Bamford Hesketh Almshouses files.]

ADDENDUM

The Barrow Almshouses

Bishop Isaac Barrow of St Asaph (1670-1680) died unmarried in 1680 leaving £12 to provide almshouses “for poor women aged not less than 50 and resident in the Ancient Parish of St Asaph”. His successor, Bishop William Lloyd (1680-92), had a terrace of four two-roomed cottages built at the bottom of what is now the St Asaph High Street, naming them “The Barrow Almshouses”. They were rebuilt in 1795 by Bishop Bagot (1790-1802).

These almshouses served their purpose well for some 250 years, but by the middle of the twentieth century the charity was compromised by the costs of repairs and improvements, some of which had to be defrayed by the trustees themselves. Furthermore, it was becoming difficult to attract suitable almswomen (residents), the very last being a Miss Elizabeth Rowlands in May 1961, who herself only stayed until December of that year. When the charity’s Clerk reported in January 1962 that all four houses were vacant, it was agreed to explore some other ways forward. Demolition was not feasible because of the cost, and besides, the building had by then been ‘listed’ as “of special architectural and historic interest”. Selling them therefore seemed the only viable option.

Accordingly, in March 1963 the trustees decided to ask the Charity Commission to authorise their sale by private treaty with a reserve price of £400, as valued by the estate agents, Jones and Beardmore, of Abergele. This authority was granted in November 1963, and it was reported at a special meeting in February 1964 that a Mrs G.G. Roberts had offered the asking price with a view to converting the cottages into a hostelry or a restaurant.

For the next 50 years the building served variously as a public house, a crafts shop, and latterly as a bar and restaurant until it closed in 2015, largely because of parking difficulties. The building was then bought by a local businessman, but at the moment (2018) remains empty.

After the almshouses had been sold in 1964, the trustees had to decide what to do with the charity’s funds. One of the trustees, Capt A. H. Edwards, suggested that the charity be amalgamated with a recently established charity in nearby Abergele, Winifred Bamford Hesketh Almshouses. This seemed a fitting solution, especially since Archbishop Alfred Edwards (1889-1834), a former trustee of the Barrow Almshouses, had been a close friend of Winifred Bamford Hesketh. Indeed, the idea was warmly received by the Barrow trustees, including the Dean of St Asaph, Harold Charles (1957-1971), but Bishop David Bartlett (1950-1971) was “dubious as to what might the attitude of the Lady McDonald be.” (sic)

In May 1963, the Almshouses Association presented the trustees of the Barrow Almshouses with a plan for such an amalgamation, which involved building four extra almshouses on glebe land next to the Church House in Abergele, and directly opposite the newly-built Bamford Hesketh almshouses. One of these would be called the “Bishop Barrow Almshouse” and always assigned to “a poor woman of not less than 50 years from the Ancient Parish of St Asaph, and appointed by the Dean of St Asaph”.

Letters found in the Winifred Bamford Hesketh Almshouses files, dated May 1963, confirm that there was considerable enthusiasm for the Almshouses Association’s proposals, but the Charity Commissioners objected on the grounds that the two charities’ respective objectives were incompatible: one for “poor women aged not less than 50 and resident in St Asaph”, and the other for “poor or aged persons who were also members of the Church of England or the Church in Wales”.

Accordingly, the Commissioners decided to establish a new charity, the Bishop Barrow’s Almshouse Fund, which would maintain the spirit of the old one without the burden of maintaining old buildings and finding suitable residents. The trustees were given detailed instructions regarding the proceeds of the sale and other assets (a net total of £1174), and presented with a new ‘Scheme’ for the management and administration of the new charity. Income from investments was to be applied to help poor women aged over 50 and resident in the Ancient Parish of St Asaph in one or more of the following ways: providing clothing, bedding, furniture, or other useful articles, including comforts and aids for the sick; a weekly income of not more than 15 shillings; gifts to relieve sickness or any other adversity; and also more generally, subscriptions towards almshouses, homes or hostels, and other charitable organisations for the benefit of poor women.

Note:

According to the Charity Commission’s Register of Charities, Bishop Barrow’s Almshouse Fund was first registered on 18 February 1963 (Charity no. 214714), and removed on 4 January 1992, when it was “amalgamated”. Unfortunately, neither the Charity Commissioners nor the Flintshire Archives hold any records regarding what happened to it subsequently; and hitherto all further inquiries have proved unsuccessful.

The plot of glebe land next to the Church House in Abergele, the proposed site for the new ‘Barrow’ almshouses, was sold to a local building contractor in 1981, to erect a block of four apartments. (This red-brick building can be seen in the fourth frame of the slideshow in the Home page.)

[The information for this Addendum was obtained from the Minutes and Accounts books of The Barrow Almshouses charity, kept at the Flintshire Archives in Hawarden.]