A beautiful if lonely survivor. Ford's Hospital, Coventry, England
It was founded by the merchant William Ford (or perhaps 'Fourd') in 1509 to provide accommodation for six elderly people: five men and one woman and is regarded as one of the best examples of this type of vernacular building.
It was damaged by a bomb dropped on 14 October 1940 which killed the warden, a nurse and six residents but was carefully restored with original timbers between 1951 and 1953. It still functions as an almshouse.
Now a lonely survivor on a charmless street, early photographs show it as part of row of half-timbered cottages on a picturesque lane. Many of these cottages survived the war, and photographs showing the bomb damage to Ford's reveal the buildings directly next door as being unscathed. Sadly they didn't survive the city planners of the next few decades.
A survey carried out in 1965 found that only 34 timber-framed buildings survived in the city, down from 100 recorded in 1958, and 240 after the war.
A beautiful if lonely survivor. Ford's Hospital, Coventry, England
It was founded by the merchant William Ford (or perhaps 'Fourd') in 1509 to provide accommodation for six elderly people: five men and one woman and is regarded as one of the best examples of this type of vernacular building.
It was damaged by a bomb dropped on 14 October 1940 which killed the warden, a nurse and six residents but was carefully restored with original timbers between 1951 and 1953. It still functions as an almshouse.
Now a lonely survivor on a charmless street, early photographs show it as part of row of half-timbered cottages on a picturesque lane. Many of these cottages survived the war, and photographs showing the bomb damage to Ford's reveal the buildings directly next door as being unscathed. Sadly they didn't survive the city planners of the next few decades.
A survey carried out in 1965 found that only 34 timber-framed buildings survived in the city, down from 100 recorded in 1958, and 240 after the war.