The Almshouses were erected in 1881 by George Edward Coryton, JP of Liss Place, Petersfield. Coryton was from a family of well known landowners and agriculturalists, he was born in 1819 and qualified as a county magistrate in Dec 1880 in Winchester (Hampshire Telegraph - Wednesday 22 December 1880). He died aged 67 on 22 March 1886.

The foundation stone inscription states ‘in memory of the misses Evans of Darley, Derby’.

The Evans family had established an industrial community with workers cottages and a church and a Miss Evans of Darley House had erected a vicarage house in 1880 (Andrews, A., 2022). The inscription also states the almshouses were erected ‘chiefly for the widows of agricultural labourers of the parish of Liss’. They were founded as a private charity and later, in the 1930s, transformed into a public charity, at the wish of Coryton’s grandson Capt. A. F. Coryton and his relatives. ‘The scheme will be self-supporting, as the endowment will be sufficient to keep the property in repair… [t]rustees from Liss, Greatham, and Hawkley are being appointed, as it is in these three parishes the Coryton property lies’. (West Sussex Gazette - Thursday 30 July 1936).

Jo Prinsen BA (Hons) History PGDip Conservation – Historical Researcher