Dunstable
Jane Cart and the Cart Almshouses

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The Cart Almshouses, named after Jane Cart (ne Chew), were built in 1723 and consist of a simple row of 6 two-storey terraced houses built in blue and red brick. The houses are several feet above street level which gives them a certain air of distinction.

The Almshouses were built to house six poor women of Dunstable who were regular attenders at the Church of England. A plaque on the front of the building commemorates Jane Cart's generosity. The houses continued to be used for their original purpose until around 2000 when the trustees decided that they were no longer suitable for housing the elderly and they couldn't make modifications because the buildings were listed. It is hoped that the money raised from the sale of the almshouses will go towards building new accommodation in line with Jane Cart's original aim.

Jane Cart was the youngest daughter of Elizabeth Marche of Dunstable and Thomas Chew, a London haberdasher. She had 7 brothers and sisters, two of whom died before she was born. It is assumed she met her husband James Cart, a distiller and merchant, through her brothers Thomas and William, both of whom were working as distillers in London. They were married in 1684 when Jane was 31 years old and although they had 9 children, Jane was to outlive them all. After she became a widow in 1706, she continued to live in London.

In 1712, on the death of her unmarried brother William, who had had a successful career as a distiller, Jane, her sister Frances, and the son of her other, now deceased sister, Elizabeth , inherited his estate. They decided to use his money to build a school in Dunstable for the free education of poor Church of England boys. This school, Chew's House, stands besides the Cart Almshouses and today houses the parish offices of the Priory Church. The Little Theatre building next door, was built in 1883, to accommodate the expanding school.

When her last remaining sibling Frances (Ashton) died in 1727, she inherited much of the family estate, (including the Sugar Loaf and other inns in Dunstable), as both brothers died unmarried and her sisters as widows. Her wealth made it possible to be extremely generous to the town and church of Dunstable both in her lifetime and after her death. At the time of her death in 1736, Jane had been living in the Sugar Loaf Inn, Dunstable. She left much of her estate to charity. This included regular payments to the women in the Almshouses and to the poor of Dunstable (including clergymen, widows and ex-prisoners), and providing money for apprenticeships for ex-pupils of Chew's School. Money was also set aside for the maintenance of the Almshouses, for the repair and cleaning of the memorial to her husband in St Mary-le-Bow Church where he and 6 of their children were buried, and the repair and maintenance of her own, yet to be constructed, memorial at Dunstable's Priory Church.

In her will, Jane Cart stipulated that she be buried in the North Aisle of the Priory Church alongside her brother, William Chew. Her grave can still be seen there today. She also requested that the body of her son James Cart (Jnr), who had run the distillery business for twenty five years after the death of his father, be taken up from St Mary-le-Bow Church and interred in her own grave.

Sources:

• Mrs Jane Cart (ne Chew) 1653-1736, by J Lunn (23 Pipers Croft, Dunstable, 1997)
• The book of Dunstable & Houghton Regis, by V & L Evans (Barracuda Books, 1885)
• Dunstable in detail, by N. C. Benson (Book Castle 1986)

Jane Cart and the Cart Almshouses, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2005

Page last updated: 23rd January 2014