12: Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a few paces down from the Donnison School on your right.
In 1747, an Act of Parliament required seamen to pay six pence per month from their wages to support disabled seamen and their families. This became known as the Muster Roll Fund.
Completed four years before London's Trafalgar Square, these almshouses were constructed to house the families of lost seamen.
Built with funds from the Muster Roll in 1840, the almshouses are named in honour of the 76 sons of Sunderland present at the Battle of Trafalgar.
If you're standing at the entrance to the courtyard, a large plaque to your left lists the names and ages along with the ships they served on. The Trafalgar almshouses continue to house disabled seamen and their families to this day.
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