TRUSTEES of a charity that runs almshouses in a Yorkshire Dales town have completed a major renovation of the properties costing £137,000.

Work on the houses at Collingwood Terrace in High Bentham included the installation of new porches with substantial storage space along with modern well-appointed bathrooms with walk-in showers at five of the properties.

"The residents and the trustees are delighted with the improvements and the exterior façade is much improved," said Clive Story, chairman of the trustees. "We would like to express our sincere thanks to the residents for their co-operation and to all the contractors concerned; they have been a pleasure to work with and the end result clearly reflects high standards of workmanship."

The almshouses are conveniently close to the centre of the town. Funds for their original construction were provided in the will of William Collingwood, who died, aged 31, in 1726. He belonged to a wealthy family, related to the governors or sheriffs of Northumberland and later to Admiral Lord Collingwood one of Nelson’s closest friends.

William provided funds “to go towards the purchase of some convenient house or place in Upper Bentham as a hospital” for the maintenance and support of 12 old people, men and women, six of each sex. Each were to be allocated three shillings a week provided they were members of the Church of England.

The “Collingwood Hospital” was established, later to be known as the almshouses and now simply as Collingwood Terrace.

The buildings were extensively improved in 1900 and during the next century porches were added and alterations made to the bathrooms.

In 1997/8 a major refurbishment was undertaken by the trustees. The original 12 very small properties were reduced to nine and substantial improvements made to the facilities with new bathrooms and kitchens and the communal gardens were upgraded.

In recent years new modern kitchens have been installed in some of the properties. Several residents declined the upgrade because of the upheaval that it would entail. The remaining ones will be upgraded as the opportunity arises.