Timeline

Health

Tudor

Plague

Doctors and Hospitals

Greyfriars

Almshouses

Workhouses

Almshouses

Almshouses were homes for those who were to old to be able to earn money to live on. The money for building and keeping the almshouses was given by a rich person. Each parish would have had its own almshouses. In Reading, only St Mary’s almshouses remain. These were set up in 1635 by Thomas Vachel and were originally in St Mary’s Butts. In Victorian times these were moved to a new position on Castle Street.