Gateshead, High Street, Powell's Almshouses

HER Number:
7860

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, High Street, Powell's Almshouses

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Health and Welfare

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Almshouse

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
About 60 yards above the railway bridge crossing High Street, on the right hand side going downwards, was a narrow entry opened by an iron gate named Powell's Court. Above the gate was a slab bearing the Powell coat of arms, and an inscription recording that the almshouses were built in 1731 at the charge of Thomas Powell of Newcastle, thought to have been a native of Gateshead. In 1932 the almshouses were still in use. Described as "a quiet little nook, with its poor sprinkling of dingy-looking grass".

Easting:
254

Northing:
635

Grid Reference:
NZ254635

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
D. Lumley, 1932, The Story of Gateshead Town - From the earliest age to the mid Victorian, p 65