1 Market Place
“Hello! Glad you caught me. I’ve been working hard for the poor of the city at number 1 Market Place for over four hundred years, so I’m about due for a break.
Thomas Lathberye left me to the charity that bears his name in 1579 and they have owned me ever since. Imagine, only one careful owner in all that time!
My lovely board of Trustees looks after me and rents me out to nice business folk and the money is used to fund almshouses near here. These were provided by another chap who lived in the sixteenth century called Richard Raynshaw. The almshouses shelter people who really need it, which is so satisfying for me to see. I used to have some friends to help me shoulder this burden but they have been sold over the years. I was always the hardest working though, earning more than the others put together!
People also say kind things about how I look and awarded me Grade II listing over forty years ago. It’s nice to know people want to protect me after all my years of service.
Oh well, I’d better get back to it!”
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