West end of Humshaugh

Image: © Andrew Curtis Taken: 24 Jul 2015

The garden wall of Evans Almshouse and West End Terrace with attached pant at the junction with Burn Lane is a Grade II Listed Building (List Entry Number: 1043037). The front tap of the pant is missing but is topped with a cast-iron globe finial on moulded stone base. A stone built into wall on right of the pant has raised shaped panel with incised inscription given as H E S DAVIDSON 1854 [probably an error - see below]. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1043037 The Evans Almshouses are also Grade II Listed (List Entry Number: 1155991). An inscribed stone above the central window reads 'THE EVANS ALMSHOVSE/ST DAVID'S DAY 1864' https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1155991 As water was brought into the village at a cost of nearly £1,000 by the same Mrs Evans (Mary Ann Evans, wife and widow of Revd David Evans, Rector of Simonburn who died in 1829) it seems possible that the inscription on the stone built into the wall beside the pant may differ from that recorded by the Historic England entry. This was suggested by a correspondent in December 2022 whose photo, kindly forwarded, appears to show M E / St Davids Day / 1854 probably reflecting that above the Almshouses. Pevsner's Northumberland (2001) records "The EVANS ALMSHOUSE (precisely dated to 'St David's Day 1864') has a PANT of 1854 incorporated in its garden wall." Perhaps the two gifts to the village, both dated on St David's Day in the years 1854 and 1864, were made on that day in memory of her late husband, David. There is another photo here Image

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