Building record MWX937 - Rogers' Almshouses, West Street, Poole

Almshouses founded in about 1604 by Robert Rogers, extended in 1852, reconstructed in 1927 and demolished in about 1971. The almshouses were of one storey and attics, with coursed rubble walls, brick chimney stacks and roofs covered with tiles and stone slates. The original building comprised six cottages, but the northernmost was demolished as part of the widening of King Street, probably in the nineteenth century. In 1852, the almshouses were extended wht the construction of a further six houses to the south, and were reconstructed in 1927.

The first documentary evidence for an almshouse in West Street is in a 1574 census. A plaque on the centre of the original Rogers Almshouse building records that Robert Rogers, leather seller and native of Poole founded them in 1604. <1> The almshouses bear three plaques on the West Street frontage. One records their foundation by Rogers in 1604, a second their reconstruction in 1927 and the third records an extension built in 1852. A vast amount of reconstruction has been carried out on this building. The stone walling is probably original but the whole of the facing is modern. Original doorways are visible, now bricked up. Roof timbering appears to be original. Reconstruction has been well carried out and the character of the buildings has not been lost. There are now five tenements only. See ground photographs. <3> Roger's Almshouses, of one storey, built of coursed rubble and brick with a tile and slate roof. <4> Not listed in Housing List, 1980. Area shown blank on OS 1:10 000 1975 - almshouses probably destroyed. <5> The almshouses were demolished in around 1971 during road widening operations. <6>

Record last edited

Mar 2 2022 10:57AM