Stop 17: alms houses
These buildings were originally built as one-storey houses. Lady Waterford, later the Duchess of St. Albans, in memory of her husband John Henry 5th Marquis of Waterford, changed them into special retirement houses in the late 19th Century for retired workers from the Curraghmore estate. They are testimony to how the Marquis of Waterford cared for the workers of Curraghmore.
There are seven Alms Houses on William Street and they were originally built by the Malcomsons, but altered in 1896.
Philomena Walsh, our school caretaker, lives in the most prominent Alms House. Leah Harte’s great-grandparents lived in one of them too.
