Worshipful Company of Weavers

The Company is the oldest chartered livery company in the City of London, receiving its charter from King Henry II in ca. 1155-8 (Guildhall Library Ms 4621). It had control of weaving in the City of London, as well as Westminster and Southwark. The Company had a hall in Basinghall Street, in the parish of St Michael Bassishaw, until its demolition in the mid-19th century. The Company also held other properties in the City of London, as well as estates in Billericay and Shenfield in Essex.

Almshouses: William Watson (d. 1673) gave £200 towards the building of almshouses in Shoreditch. The almshouses (with 12 rooms) were opened in 1670. Richard Garrett of Wandsworth bequeathed £1,000 East India stock for the building of six almshouses at Elder Street, Porter's Fields for poor members of the Weavers' Company. In 1851 these almshouses were sold and new ones were erected at Wanstead. They comprised 24 dwellings (12 for men and 12 for women) and were ready for occupation in 1859.