Whilst we don’t know much about Eleanor Palmer herself, we can speculate fairly accurately about her life and times, and the circumstances surrounding the  charitable bequest she made in 1558, just months before Queen Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England.  Eleanor’s story is about local people caring for each other and having the foresight to plan ahead for the future.

In Eleanor Palmer’s day, Barnet lay one day’s rutted and muddy ride from London.  It was located on the brow of a hill at the junction of a major cross-roads.  Barnet’s later prosperity was largely due to the success of its famous market, which, in Tudor times, provided London with most of its meat. At one time 40,000-45,000 head of cattle were herded into Barnet to be bought and sold.

Barnet market was held in front of Barnet’s parish church (St John the Baptist, built c 1400) on the Great North Road.  The market sold beef cattle, horses, corn, pottery and other goods.  In Eleanor Palmer’s day, the narrow streets of Barnet were lined with half-timbered inns, alehouses and taverns which offered market traders and coach travelers lodging, ale, bread, meat and pies - as well as cock-fighting and bear-baiting.  At one time over 150 mail and stage coaches, carriages and wagons, passed daily through the town, adding to its prosperity.

Barnet’s streets were filthy in Tudor days, awash with sewage which spread plague and other diseases.  This was treated by doctors offering blood-letting, leeches and lethal potions.  Life expectancy was short.  Families were large, and twenty percent of woman died in childbirth.  There was little room for sentimentality - but plenty of scope for beneficial pragmatism.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1547 created turmoil, abolishing places of learning.  At the same time, Caxton’s new printing presses were beginning to make books more available, and this had a profound social and political effect on England’s rapidly growing population.  There was an urgent need for social reform. 

Barnet’s first almshouses were built specifically for “six poor ancient widows or maidens”.  These women had to be aged at least fifty, living in Barnet - and had to be well behaved.  Beggars, drunkards, backbiters, talebearers, scoulds, thieves, prostitutes, witches, charmers, idiots and lunatics were specifically forbidden.

One of Barnet’s main benefactors in Tudor times was Eleanor Palmer, the daughter of Edward Cheseman, keeper of Henry VII’s treasure.  Eleanor’s first husband was Edward Taylor and her second husband was John Palmer of Kentish Town.  Eleanor had eight children, yet left Fortess Fields in Kentish Town to establish a charity to help the poor of Chipping Barnet and St. Pancras.   Eleanor died a wealthy woman in her own right on 29 February, 1558.  A memorial plaque on the 15th century wall in Barnet’s parish church states that Eleanor:

Eleanor Palmer “Did give two acres of meadow land and its income for the benefit of the poor of Kentish Town and Chipping Barnet forever”.  Her gift allowed six almshouses to be built in 1823, accommodating six married couples who received a generous 12s. a week. 

The Eleanor Palmer Trust today

Today the Eleanor Palmer Trust continues to serve the needs of the local community.  The rent from factories built on Eleanor’s remaining meadows provides an income from which Trustees make grants to needy individuals and voluntary organisations within the areas of Chipping Barnet and East Barnet. 

The Trust is run in accordance with schemes prepared by the Charity Commission.  The current scheme is dated June 1999.  The Trust is administered by Voluntary Trustees.  Day to day management is the responsibility of the Clerk to the Trustees.

The land in Kentish Town is administered by a separate charity called “The Estate Charity of Eleanor Palmer”.  In 1982 part of the land was sold and Eleanor Palmer Trust received two-thirds share of the capital, which is invested to provide income and future growth. 

Almshouses

Almshouses are unfurnished dwellings, usually specially designed with the needs of older people in mind.  Their aim is to provide convenience, comfort and security where residents are encouraged to make friends and share a wider social life through use of the communal lounge, lunch club and outings. 

Most of our almshouses have a resident warden and there is an emergency call system in each unit.   In an emergency, such as sudden illness or after a fall, a resident can get help quickly.   Eleanor Palmer’s original almshouses were rebuilt in 1930, with a further two houses added to the original six.  Other almshouses and modern sheltered housing managed by the Trust include:

• Cantelowes House (26 units) – Spring Close
• Wood Street – (10 units) who share the resident warden from Byford House
• Byford House – (17 units) Bells Hill
• Eleanor Gardens & Palmer Gardens (21 units) off Chesterfield Road

The Samuel and Rebecca Byford Charity

The seventeen units on Bells Hill were originally owned by The Samuel and Rebecca Byford Charity, and were managed by the Eleanor Palmer Trust. 

Samuel Byford died in 1898. He had a butchers shop in Barnet and his first wife was Rebecca. He had no children and by his will he left six cottages in Bells Hill (now flats 1 – 8 Byford House) to be used “as Almshouses for the use of respectable married couples”.   Samuel also left the profit from his shop, then known as “Essex House” (now 89 High street, Barnet and let to Greggs the bakers) “to be used for the expenses of the aforesaid Almshouses”.   

This was the Samuel and Rebecca Byford Charity until 1999, when it was merged with the Eleanor Palmer Trust.

Residential Care Home

The Eleanor Palmer Trust owns the modern residential care Home at 27 Cantelowes House, Spring Close in Barnet.  This is for 32 elderly people.