THOMAS OKEN

Thomas Oken lived in Warwick during the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, a period of great religious change with all the social upheaval that this brought in its wake.

A mercer, who made a comfortable fortune, he devoted his talents to the service of his town and his fellow citizens. He was a public-spirited man, heavily involved in local government and of deep religious conviction. He was the last Master of the Guild of Holy Trinity and St George, which was dissolved in 1546.

Between Michaelmas 1544 sand May 15th 1545, the date of the grant of the municipal charter to Warwick, he conducted the difficult negotiations with the King`s Commissioners which secured for the people of Warwick a substantial part of the Church and Guild endowments, thereby preventing the worst effects of subsequent legislation by the Crown.

He was one of the principal Burgesses named in the Charter and was Bailiff from 1557 - 1558 remaining a member of the Corporation until his death on July 29th 1573.

In his will, from his personal fortune, he arranged amongst other things, for the payment of the salary of the schoolmaster, annual payments to "the poor", the paving of certain streets, the repairing of the bridge, the wages of the herdsmen and the beadle, the repairing of the wells, and the provision of the almshouses for six people. Such provisions as are applicable today are carried out by Oken`s Charity including the building and maintenance of the almshouses.

He also provided for the spending of £1 annually on a feast which, perhaps, he meant to be continuance of the Guild Feast, preceded as that had been by a service at St. Mary`s.

NICHOLAS EYFFLER

Nicholas Eyffler was a German immigrant from Osnabruck in West Phalia. He was born in about 1512, and settled in London probably for economic reasons rather than religious persecution. He is believed to have come to Warwick under the patronage of Sir Thomas Lucy who was building Charlecote and supplied glass both for Lucy and for the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth Castle. He carried on a very successful business as a glazier at a time when glass for windows was becoming increasingly common. He became a denizen of this country (not quite a naturalised English man) in March 1562 and lived first in or near the market place and later in two houses in Jury Street.

By his will Eyffler instructed that on a close on the Back Hills (now Castle Hill) two timber framed barns should be converted and extended into four almshouses.

When the great fire of Warwick destroyed three of the almshouses belonging to Oken`s Charity in Pebble Lane, that Charity built six additional almshouses for twelve inmates in 1696 on the southern end of the almshouses at Castle Hill.

The management of Nicolas Eyffler`s Charity was transferred to the Oken Trustees in 1956 and the two Charities were completely amalgamated in 1988.

CASTLE HILL ALMSHOUSES

In 1956 all ten of the Castle Hill almshouses (number 1-4 Eyffler`s, numbers 5-10 Oken`s) were thoroughly modernised. Then again in 1993/1994 the almshouses were again modernised, this time the work included the construction of new kitchens and bathrooms costing approximately £300,000. The almshouses were officially opened on July 29th 1994 by Viscount Daventry and Lord Lieutenant of the County.

THE GUILD COTTAGES

The Guild Cottages were built on land adjacent to the Lord Leycester Hospital and beneath the wall which marked the boundary of the medieval town. They were financed with the help of a grant of £100,000 from Warwick King Henry V111`s Charity, another £40,000 from Baron Davenport`s Charity, and smaller grants from the Parish of Warwick and other donors. They were officially opened on March 17th 1992 by Lady Benson, the Chairman of the Almshouse Association.

MANAGEMENT

The Charity is regulated by a scheme dated the 18th July 1998 issued by the Charity Commission. There are thirteen Trustees, namely the Mayor ex-officio, four nominated Trustees, one appointed by the District Council and three by the Town Council, and eight co-opted Trustees. The management of the Trustees is carried out by their Clerk and Receiver. The Trustees meet four times a year.