Cranfield
Goodman Almshouses

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James Goodman was a former resident of Cranfield who left the village at an early age. He became a successful builder, who, at the time the first houses were built, was living at Alver Bank, Clapham Park, London.

The first three almshouses were built in 1887/8 for aged and infirm widows of the village. He had five more almshouses built in 1892, this time for aged and infirm married couples or widowers. The incomes for the houses were secured on house property in London at Tooting, Herne Hill, Brixton and Clapham.

James Goodman died in 1892.

Sources:

• Victoria County History. Vol III.
• Cranfield its church and people, by M K Street
• Chronicles of Cranfield, by Frank Lord
• Cranfield, by Stephen Coleman
• Old Cranfield in the early part of the Twentieth Century by a native, by Doris Malsher

Goodman Almshouses, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2009

Page last updated: 23rd January 2014