[1] The almshouses were founded to provide homes for six (later eight) poor people and education for ten children, on a site on the eastern edge of the town, near the south entrance to Corsham Court.

The L-shaped building has six houses for single women along its north-east side, each with a gable and mullioned windows; at the centre is a Baroque carving of the Hungerford arms described as "flamboyant" by Orbach.

[2] The west side has the warden's house and a combined schoolroom and chapel, and a full-height porch which is also elaborately embellished.

In 1802, Edward Hasted was given the Mastership of The Hungerford Almshouses by his friend William Bouverie, who had become Earl of Radnor in 1765.

The site, also known as Lady Margaret Hungerford Almshouses & Schoolroom and Corsham Almshouses & 17th Century Schoolroom, is operated as a visitor attraction.