The trustees of Faversham Municipal Charities run the town’s Almshouses and administer 21 charitable trusts set up for strictly defined purposes.
The Almshouses
The Almshouses consist of 70 units, most of them in the splendid 1863 building (whose southern terrace is shown above), which is considered one of the largest and finest schemes of its kind in the UK.
It superseded several smaller groups of almshouses scattered about the town. Rebuilding on such a grand scale and to so high a standard was made possible by a bequest to the town by Henry Wreight (1760-1840), a local solicitor and former Mayor of Faversham.
The building was designed by two Kent architects, Hooker and Wheeler, about whom strangely little has yet been discovered. However, their talent is clear from the way they handled the commission. The huge building dominates its setting, but it does not overpower it because of the skilful way in which its bulk is broken up.
Although the main range is 470ft long, there is no monotony because it is punctuated by projecting bays and by a central chapel, whose Bath stone is a balance to the brickwork of the dwellings. In 1982, the flats were modernised at a cost of £1 million. They were re-opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, of which confederation Faversham is a member.
In 1989, work was completed on new accommodation of 16 flats, designed to harmonise with the old, at the rear of the site. A community room for the almspeople, of whom there are just over 80, has also been provided in recent years.
MEET THE
BENEFACTORS
Benefactors whose gifts and bequests are administered by Faversham Municipal Charities include ...
Henry Wreight, a
bachelor lawyer who made Faversham his heir. Thrice mayor, he died in 1840. Bequest of about £70,000, one of town’s biggest gifts in real terms, financed Recreation Ground and the Almshouses. Fund still producing income. Guildhall has portrait of Wreight with plans for almshouses he endowed in lifetime.
Peter Head, an
estate agent who was mayor in 1967 and was killed in a road accident in 1978. He left about £500,000 to benefit the Almshouses chapel and residents’ lounge and to support the income of other FMC charities. Peter Head’s Charity funded restoration of the chapel spires in the early 1990s.
George Beckett, Mayor of Faversham in 1785, 1794 and 1804. By his 1830 will, he left funds to aid housekeepers in need and to support the Vicar of Faversham. Beckett was a grocer at 1 Court Street. A portrait is in the Guildhall. |
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Applicants for flats must have lived in Faversham for at least five years.
Charities
The 21 charitable trusts run by Faversham Municipal Charities include the Hatch Charity, a 1533 bequest by the merchant venturer Henry Hatch that still benefits Faversham Parish Church, Faversham Creek and local roads.
Particularly suitable for augmentation by donors today, in that they do not bear a founder’s name, are the National School Fund, for St Mary of Charity Primary School, and the Almshouses and Chapel Fund, assisting the upkeep of the buildings and of the almshouses gardens, which delight so many passers-by.
Also, there are charities, such as the Sherwin Charity for the Parish Church Sunday School, that need more capital if they are to fulfil their role.
The trustees have always been ready to accept gifts and bequests for the charities and would be happy to discuss suggestions by potential donors for new charities to extend the town’s fine history of benefactions into the 21st century.
Supporting Faversham’s heritage is the aim of Faversham Municipal Charities’ newest fund. The Faversham Heritage Fund’s 2007 debut makes it the first charity launched by FMC this century.
FMC trustees hope that it could be the model for further new community charity funds for Faversham.
The Faversham Heritage Fund has been set up with £25,000 given by Donald Church in memory of his brother, Derek, a former conservation officer.
The charity's aims are the “preservation and improvement of historic buildings, the distinctive character of the townscape and landscape and the historic artefacts, regalia and ceremonials of the town of Faversham, a member of the Confederation of Cinque Ports”.
Background
Faversham Municipal Charities (FMC) was established when a national reform, the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, transferred administration of the town’s charitable funds from the corporation to the new body of charity trustees.
There are fifteen trustees. Five are representative trustees appointed by Faversham Town Council for four-year terms. Ten are co-optative trustees appointed by the body of trustees for five-year terms.
FMC holds in trust the freehold of Faversham Recreation Ground, which was opened in 1860, its cost having been met mainly from the bequest of Henry Wreight (died 1840), but also by subscription by townspeople.
The FMC office also provides administrative services for the separate Bensted’s Charity.
Further Information
Sue Bayford
Faversham Municipal Charities
5 The Almshouses
South Road
Faversham
Kent ME13 7LU
01795 532958
fumc@btinternet.com