FROXFIELD, (Wiltshire) in the Bath road, 2 m. from Hungerford, where is an almsh. well endowed, which was founded by Sarah
Duchess dowager of Somerset, relict of the last D. of the elder branch of the noble family of Seymour, for 30 widows not
having 20 l. a year to subsist on, one half the widows of clergymen, the other half laymen's widows, for whose maintenance
she devised several manors, messuages and farms, besides above 2000 l. that she left by her will, for the building and
furniture of this almsh. which contains thirty ground-rooms, and as many chambers, one of each sort being allowed to every
widow, with a little plot of garden. Here is a chapel for them, wherein the chaplain, whose stipend is 30 l. a year, is to
read prayers every day, and to preach on Sunday. Besides the yearly pension in money, which is now about eight guineas,
the widows are allowed a cloth-gown, with a certain quantity of wood every winter; and when the estates she has given to
the almsh. (many of which are now demised upon lease for lives) sfhall fall in and produce a clear income of more than 400
l. a year, she appointed additional lodgings to be built for 20 more widows.