Congratulations to Mike Bolton on the publication of his latest book, William Sevenoke and his Almshouses.
The Sevenoaks Almshouses were founded with the school in 1432 and have remained on the same site for 600 years, being rebuilt in 1732. You can still see them today, flanking Old School on the Upper High Street.
William Sevenoke intended them to house ‘twenty poor men and women [of Sevenoaks], being in greatest want’, and they served as sheltered, funded accommodation for poor parishioners for the next 500 years. Today they provide affordable housing.
As secular foundations, both the school and almshouses were ahead of their time, which may have helped them survive the Reformation. Mike explores how the almshouses were managed and how, with the help of local benefactors, they fared during the following centuries. His book sheds light on the occupants and their lives.
Mike is also the author of ‘A School Transformed: Sevenoaks School 1898–2002’ and his other research interests include the Sevenoaks and Sundridge workhouses.
William Sevenoke and his Almshouses is available from Sevenoaks Bookshop.
