Clarkes Almshouses
Clarkes Almshouses St Peters Sreet
St Albans Museums photographic collection PX7030
Town Centre housing for the needy
Judy Faraday & G.P.McSweeney
These almshouses stood on the site of the Old Town Hall, at the junction with Chequer Street. The sign hanging outside the almshouses reads "White Hart Inn". The building was demolished in 1829 to build the Town Hall.
This image is a watercolour showing "Almshouses of Clarkes Charity, c. 1821, St Peters Street”, and was probably painted by one of several Brabant sisters.
In 1605 the Mayor and Burgesses conveyed to John Clarke a plot of land "on which the Moote Hall (q.v.) did stand to erect a habitation under one roof for six poor people". The sign carries the additional information that mail can be left at/collected from the White Hart.