Giles Breame's Almshouses stood on the east side of what is now High Street South - then called East Ham Manor Road - near Vicarge Lane. By the time this painting was made they were nearly 100 years old. In 1618 Giles Bream (who died in 1621) left £300 to build Almshouses for six aged poor men. The almshouses were built to house six poor men - three from the parish of East Ham and three from Bottisham in Cambridgeshire. Their up-keep  was endowed from income from farm land in Braintree, Essex, known as Lake's Farm. In July, 1764 it was reported to the Overseers of the Poor that the almshouses "were in a truly deplorable condition... for want of proper persons  to take care of it, the tenants of the charity estate daily committing waste, and to urge for the appointment of the trustees". The Vestry empowered two magistrates "to take what measures they deemed to be right".  In 1791-2, the almshouses were damaged by a storm and  essential repairs had to be made. They were rebuilt in 1808, again comprising  six small houses, each with two rooms. The three northern  houses being occupied by the Bottisham men and the three southern, by the East Ham poor.

By 1937 the almshouses were again in a very poor condition and were  condemned and demolished in in 1940. The site was sold for £2,000 and the money combined with other local charities for the support of poor men who lived in East Ham.