Bell’s Almhouses/Raybell Court, Linkfield Road, Isleworth.


Bell’s Almshouses were founded in 1738 by Mrs Mary Bell for six poor women.  They were rebuilt in 1822 as the Infirmary of the Parish Workhouse.   The Infirmary was sold in 1839 when the new Union Workhouse was built and purchased by the Isleworth & Hounslow Charity Trustees to house six unmarried or widowed women.  A separate building on the same site provided housing for two married couples.
Raybell Court was built in 1976 on the site of Rayment’s Almshouses and Bell’s Almshouses.


Rayment’s Almshouses were endowed by Samuel Rayment who rose from baker’s boy to become the manager of the Isleworth Flour Mill.  Rayment’s Almshouses were built adjacent to Bell’s Almshouses in 1936 to provide housing for two married couples of not less than 60 years of age.

Raybell Court
In 1976 both Rayment’s and Bell’s Almshouses were demolished and replaced by Raybell Court, a complex of 26 one-bedroom flats on two floors.  In selecting residents for accommodation, preference is given to women for five of the almshouses, to married couples for two of the almshouses, and to married couples of not less than 60 years of age for two more of the almshouses.


Samuel Rayment who made his motto in life to be “Do unto others as you would they should do unto you” was born in 1857 in Ponder’s End, Enfield and became such a successful man that when he died in 1933 he left his house and £3,100 in Consols (interest bearing government securities without a maturity date) to the Isleworth Charities.  Under the terms of his will his house was to be used for two aged and deserving couples of any sect, creed or denomination and the money for the maintenance and endowment.  The house was sold and pair of model almshouses were erected on spare land in Linkfield Road in the enclosure of Bell’s Charity.