Building record MDO45161 - Spiller's Spittle almshouse, Salisbury Street, Shaftesbury

Almshouse 1656, rebuilt 1830. Situated on the east side of Salisbury Street. The present modern building is stone-built and bears a plaque which reads - 'Spiller's Almshouse - Founded 1646. No visible trace remains of the old building.

(ST 86682282) Almshouse (NAT) <2>

Spiller's Spittle, an almshouse, situated on the east side of Salisbury Street was built in 1655, having been endowed by Sir Henry Spiller of Laleham, Middlesex, with certain lands by a deed dated 1642, and by a surrender dated 1646. The house was rebuilt in 1830 and comprises ten separate tenements for ten men. A brass plate over the door bears the inscription "DONUM DEI ET DEO, ANNO DOMINI 1660" and on a stone below is inscribed "SPILLER'S SPITTLE 1656". <1>

ST 86682282. The present modern building is stone-built and bears a plaque which reads - 'Spiller's Almshouse - Founded 1646. Built 1656. Rebuilt by the corporation - 1830'. No visible trace remains of the old building. <3>

<1> Hutchins, J, 1868, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. Volume 3. 3rd edition, 44 (Monograph). SDO11486.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 25 inch scale map, 1929 (Map). SDO18020.

<3> Edwards, D W, Field Investigator's Comments DE, F1 DE 01-FEB-56 (Unpublished document). SDO18341.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 74 (Monograph). SDO99.

(115) Almshouses, founded in 1655, have been rebuilt and in their present form appear to be of the first half of the 19th century. Reset in the central gable is a stone tablet with a shield-of arms of Spiller of Laleham and an inscription now largely indecipherable; it probably is of 1805 (Hutchins III, 44).

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206429 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 22 2022 11:28AM