A new view of an old subject

Sometimes its hard to see the possibilities in a photographic subject and it pays to return to it at different time of day, in a different season, or in different weather. Or you can search for a different point of view. I did that recently with Webbe's Almshouses in Ross on Wye. These old buildings are opposite an interesting set of curved steps that lead to the graveyard of St Mary's church, and I've combined them before in this shot.  I felt sure I could combine them in a different way and, as we passed by recently I took out my iPhone and came up with this photograph. It adds a third element - a Georgian doorway on an adjacent building.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Almshouses lights, Ledbury

St Katherine' Hospital, Ledbury, was founded in 1231 and parts dating from the C13 and C14, including the chapel, survive. The almshouses that we see today are the joint work of Robert Smirke (1822-5, the south end and central tower) and William Chick (1866, the north end). They are in the Tudor style of stone with half-timbered gables and an iron veranda at the rear. Here they are seen with Christmas decorations and trees with lights. In the centre is the cenotaph and to the right the clock tower of the Barrett Browning Institute.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Almshouses, Ross on Wye

Almshouse, humble dwellings for the poor, are not uncommon in the towns of England. They were often built and paid for by a wealthy merchant or landowner, and it is quite usual to find them still fulfilling this charitable function. The individual dwellings of the Webbe's Almshouses in Ross on Wye, built in 1612 and enlarged in the eighteenth century, originally housed 7 people (or more likely families). Today the properties have been enlarged and are home to fewer people. The curved steps in the foreground form an entrance to the churchyard from which I took my photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

The Geffrye Almshouses

The Geffrye Almshouses in Shoreditch, London, were built in 1714 by the Ironmongers Company with a bequest left by Sir Robert Geffrye. He was twice master of the Company and a former Lord Mayor of London. For nearly two hundred years the almshouses provided homes for about fifty poor pensioners. In the early 1900s the buildings and site were bought by the London County Council who wanted the land for a public open space in this densely populated area of the city. However, they were persuaded to develop it as a museum and it continues to be one today - The Geffrye Museum of the Home - describing Britain's homes from 1600 to the present day. It also has a restored almshouse, gallery, cafe and herb garden, as well as the extensive lawns and trees before the imposing three sided facade.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100