By the 1960s, the Almshouses of Sir Edmund Wright were badly in need of restoration and were moved to Beam Street to join on one site with those of Sir John Crewe. The Crewe family were tanners in Nantwich who built six Houses of Correction which were converted to Almshouses in 1780.
Various schemes have been undertaken to update the dwellings down the decades. A legacy from the estate of Miss Harriet Hope, together with a grant and public subscription, allowed Trustees to revamp and connect the Almshouses of Wright and Crewe by corridors. The new-look complex was opened by HRH Princess Alexandria in 1975.
Another old Cheshire family, the Wilbrahams, who lived at Dorfold Hall on the outskirts of Nantwich, created six Almshouses on Welsh Row in 1870. These distinctive homes, known as the Sir Roger Wilbraham Almshouses, were formally opened by the late Lady Diana Tollemache.
Two kindly spinsters, living near Willaston, donated the Wood and Garnett Homes, built in 1923. These bungalows on Colley’s Lane, Willaston and Manor Road, Nantwich were restored at the cost of £130,000 in 1987 and Viscount Leverhulme, Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, performed the official opening of the renovated properties.
In 2000, Trustees started a project to build five new bungalows for disabled people at the cost of £316,000 off Wall Lane, Nantwich. Jubilee Almshouses, were made possible, with generous support of the Leverhulme Trust.
In 2008, the Trustees assumed responsibility for the Richardson Homes Charity, consisting of three bungalows on Richardson Close in Shavington.Today the Trustees meet regularly to manage the Nantwich Almshouses and handle applications. They also administer the Charity of William Hodgkin which benefits young people under 25 in need of help to further their careers and education.
Every November, they remember Sir Edmund Wright with a service at St Mary’s Church, fulfilling his wish for his baptism to be commemorated with an ‘excellent sermon’ delivered by the Rector.