‘These Alms Houses / where built AD 1714 / At the expence of the / Inhabitants for the / Poor of this Parish / past their Labour / Robert Cromwell, George Starkie: Church Wardens’
‘The Almshouse Stone, 1714. Originally mounted on the chimney of the almshouse built on the north-west of the present school site. Newly erected here by North Westminster Community School, with the help of a contribution by Travis Perkins PLC. Rededicated by Lord Asa Briggs, 3rd December, 1990.’
16/02/2012. Paddington Basin, West London, at the entrance of an abandoned school building, currently protected by occupation, but soon destined to be demolished.
In 1980, an inscribed stone was found lying in the grounds of the then Sarah Siddons School, in North Wharf Road, Paddington. At that time Sarah Siddons was becoming part of North Westminster Community School, and the new Headteacher, Michael Marland, found the stone when looking round the site. The Schoolkeepers had washed it down regularly, but its history was lost. It appeared to have dropped out of the skies.
(‘The Almshouse Stone and Paddington Green, The Oldest Engraved Stone in Paddington’, by Jack Whitehead. Source.)
