Hall, was born in the town, and his mother came from the Mainwaring family. John Crewe was a prominent Whig politician who served as MP for Stafford (1765–68) and Cheshire (1768–1802), and was created the first Baron Crewe in 1806. He built the existing terrace of almshouses in 1767 "in pursuance of the Wills. of Sir Thomas Crewe Knight & Sir John Crewe Knight", according to the inscription above the main entrance. Sources differ as to whether Crewe demolished the existing building on the site or converted it into the new almshouse. The almshouse was for seven families, with "decayed tradesmen" being preferred. In 1883, it was maintained by Hungerford Crewe, third Baron Crewe, the grandson of the founder. The Charity of the Crewe Almshouses was later established, with the Marchioness of Crewe and the agent of the Crewe estate being among the trustees in the 1950s–60s. Maintenance suffered during the Second World War and, by the early 1960s, the Crewe Almshouses had become dilapidated. Four of the terraced houses were vacant and boarded up, the whole building was suffering from damp, and the gardens had become a waste tip. Nikolaus Pevsner describes the building as "a sad sight" in 1971. In 1963 the charity trustees considered it impossible to renovate the almshouses, and it was proposed to demolish the building and replace it with modern flats for the elderly. However, intervention from the National Association of Almshouses, among other bodies, led to various modernisation options being reconsidered. In 1970, a novel plan was proposed which involved moving the Wright's Almshouses – then located on London Road and also in poor condition – to stand adjacent to the Crewe Almshouses, and constructing communal facilities in a modern shared block. This was eventually agreed and, in 1973, the Crewe Almshouses charity merged with the charities administering the Wright's Almshouses and the Delves and Meakin Almshouses on Love Lane, as well as the Harriet Hope Charity, to form the "Almshouse Charities of Sir Edmund Wright, Crewe and Others". Quentin Crewe, a direct descendant of the founder, was later appointed the charity's patron. In 1973–75, a restoration programme was carried out, and the existing Crewe Almshouses building was converted into fourteen single-storey flats for the elderly. The complex was formally opened on 1 December 1975 by Princess Alexandra. The town's conservation area was extended to include the entire site. Description Crewe Almshouses is