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.