Wright's Almshouses, Nantwich

Wright's Almshouses is a terrace of six former almshouses now located on Beam Street (SJ654525) in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The building was originally erected at the junction of Hospital Street and London Road in 1638 by Edmund Wright (later Sir Edmund Wright), Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41, and is listed at grade II*. The low red-brick terrace has stone dressings and a central stone panel with arms. The adjacent stone archway of 1667, which Nikolaus Pevsner describes as the "best" feature of the almshouses, is also listed separately at grade II*, together with its associated wall.

By the 1960s, the Wright's Almshouses were in a poor condition, and the building was threatened with demolition. The almshouses were saved by a plan which involved moving the building, together with its wall and gateway, from London Road to stand adjacent to the Crewe Almshouses at the end of Beam Street, and constructing modern facilities shared by both former almshouses. The new complex was completed in 1975, and Wright's Almshouses remain in use as sheltered housing for the elderly.

The Wright's Almshouses were built in 1638 by Edmund Wright, later Sir Edmund Wright, and were the town's second almshouses (after those on Welsh Row founded in 1613 by Sir Roger Wilbraham). Born in Nantwich, Wright became a successful London merchant, serving as an alderman and then as Lord Mayor of London in 1640–41. The deed of 20 August 1638 establishing the almshouses stated that they were founded "out of his pious intention and charitable disposition towards the poor inhabitants of Wich Malbank". They were originally located at the far end of Hospital Street and the start of London Road on land that had once been associated with the Hospice of St Nicholas. Wright also donated the land behind the building, and £32 annually in rent from the Ryefields farm in Hillingdon, Middlesex.

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