ALLEYN'S ALMS HOUSES. There are three sets of alms-houses in London (each for ten poor people) built and endowed by Edward Alleyn, (d. 1626), the celebrated actor, and founder of God's Gift College at Dulwich: 1. in Lamb-alley, (formerly Petty France), Bishopsgate-street; 2. in Bath-street, (formerly Pest-House-lane), Old-street, St. Luke's; 3. in Soap-yard, Deadman's-place, Southwark. The first brick of the alms-houses in Bath-street was laid by Alleyn himself on the 13th of July, 1620; and on the 29th of April, 1621, he records his having placed three men and seven women in the ten houses. They were rebuilt in 1707.

Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850