Your History: The Games Hospital

The history of alms-houses stretches back to medieval times when religious orders cared for the poor. They were called hospitals or bede houses, providing hospitality and shelter.

This set of Alms-houses in Llanfaes, Brecon, was endowed in the early 1720s by Elizabeth Walker nee Games, of Newton Farm, and her sister, Catherine Games. A charity, the “Games Hospital” was set up to house and sustain six, carefully chosen, poor women from Brecon. The Charity still exists.

If you look at the John Wood Town Plan for Brecknock, surveyed in 1834, you will see that the original building faced towards Newton farm. Sometime later, however, the property was rebuilt and orientated to face Church Street. The building now contains four living units, with warden accommodation as well.

The original building had the Games Court of Arms and an inscription. The present building has a simple inscription: “Games’s Hospital - Games Houses built 1720”

Exactly three hundred years later and the property is being sold. Will the building remain, or will this be the third building on the land in three hundred years? For what will the site be used?