| Yorke Almshouses | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Almshouse |
| Location | Forthampton,Gloucestershire |
| Coordinates | 51°59′29″N2°12′23″W / 51.9914°N 2.2065°W /51.9914; -2.2065 |
| Built | 1865 |
| Architect | William Burges |
| Architectural style(s) | Gothic Revival |
| Governing body | Privately owned |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Nos 14–17 (consecutive) Church Row |
| Designated | 12 August 1985 |
| Reference no. | 1340279 |
  Location of Yorke Almshouses in Gloucestershire | |
TheYorke Almshouses, Nos. 14–17 Church Row,Forthampton,Gloucestershire, England, are a range of fouralmshouses designed by the architectWilliam Burges in 1865. The block is aGrade II listed building and the almshouses remain private residences.
Burges designed the almshouses in 1865.[1] His patron wasJoseph Yorke, of the family of local landowners.[2] The family fortune had been established byPhilip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, a successful lawyer and politician. His sonJames Yorke (1730–1808) acquired theForthampton Court estate in 1762, through his marriage to an heiress,Mary Maddox.[3] James Yorke became successivelyBishop of St David's,Bishop of Gloucester andBishop of Ely.[3] His grandson Joseph commissioned Burges to undertake a restoration of the Forthampton parish church, St Mary the Virgin, between 1863 and 1866, and the almshouses, which stand next to the church, were completed during this period.[4] The restoration and construction work at Forthampton was conceived as a memorial to Joseph's daughter, Augusta Emmeline, who died in 1863, weeks after giving birth to an heir.[5]
Alan Brooks, in the revised 2002Gloucestershire volume ofPevsner'sBuildings of England series, describes the Yorke almshouses as "a thin row, with gables bearing the Yorke arms and their crest asfinials".[1] They are built oflimestone, to a symmetrical design, with afish scale tiled roof. The complete block is designated aGrade II listed building.[2]
