The top building on the left of Vicarage Hill is Colthurst Almshouses. The gap beyond led to ‘Church Alley’ – undeniably the towns’ poorest housing area – tiny back-to-back cottages with few windows, and towards the end, corrugated tin roofs on some of them. The next row of cottages bordering the road were ‘Red Cottages’. ...
Reference: WH1065