Crewe Almshouses, Nantwich

Crewe Almshouses
Crewe Almshouses, Beam Street, Nantwich
Former names	Crewe's Almshouses
Etymology	John Crewe
General information
Status	Grade II listed
Type	Terrace of seven former almshouses
Location	Nantwich
Address	Beam Street
Country	UK
Current tenants	Sheltered flats for the elderly
Opened	1767

Crewe Almshouses or Crewe's Almshouses is a terrace of seven former almshouses at the end of Beam Street (SJ6548152562) in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The present building was erected in 1767 by John Crewe, later first Baron Crewe, and is listed at grade II. It has a central projecting section topped by a pediment, with a stone doorway flanked with Tuscan columns. The present almshouses stand on the site of a 16th-century building, originally the mansion of the Mainwaring family and later the town's House of Correction and workhouse.

By the 1960s, the Crewe Almshouses were in a poor condition, and the building was threatened with demolition. It was saved by a plan which involved moving the Wright's Almshouses from London Road to stand adjacent to the Crewe Almshouses, converting the Crewe Almshouses into flats for the elderly, and constructing modern facilities shared by both former almshouses. The new complex was completed in 1975, and Crewe Almshouses remain in use as sheltered flats for the elderly.

The site has been identified by local historian James Hall as the location of the mansion of the Mainwaring family at the end of Beam Street, which was described by William Webb in 1622 or 1623 as "the fine house of the Mainwarings", one of the five principal houses of the town. The Mainwaring family had settled in Nantwich in the late 15th century, and by the late 16th century were among the wealthiest families of the town. The house was described in Roger Mainwaring's will of 1590 as "my chief mansion house at the townsende of Namptwiche w^th all the buildings and gardens thereunto app'teyninge". It passed to the Norton family the following year, on the remarriage of Roger's widow, Margaret, to Sir Dudley Norton. In 1644, on the death of Lady Margaret Norton, the building passed to the Dodd family of Edge, from whom it was purchased by Robert Wright before 1666. In 1677, the building, by then derelict, was purchased by the town at the recommendation of Roger Wilbraham of Townsend House, and became the House of Correction and workhouse for "the undisciplined and idle poor". It remained the town's House of Correction until around 1748.