Board School, Clarendon Street, Crumpsall

THE CRUMPSALL SCHOOL BOARD – The memorial stone of the first school that the Crumpsall School Board has undertaken to build was laid on Saturday afternoon by Mr Walter S Kinch, Chairman of the Board. The school is being erected in Clarendon Street off Fountain Street in a neighbourhood which has much increased in population of late years. The new school is intended to accommodate 500 children. On the ground floor is arranged the infants’ department, which consists of a schoolroom and two classrooms. Separate entrances for the boys and girls are provided at either end, and adjoining these entrances are convenient cloakrooms. On the first floor is the boys’ and girls’ department or mixed school, which consists of a room 65 feet by 32 feet, and four classrooms, all directly connected with it. The ascent is made by easy and well-lighted stone staircases. The necessity of providing greater accommodation on the first floor than was wanted on the ground floor has enabled the architect to utilise the space below as covered sheds or porches, and as these are at each end of the building they will provide useful shelter places for the children, while at the same time adding materially to the architectural effect of the building. At the rear of the building are two large playgrounds, and here are provided covered sheds for the children to play under in wet weather. All the rooms will be well lighted and ventilated, an ornamental turret on the main roof being provided to carry off the vitiated air. The style adopted is Gothic, the fronts being faced with selected common bricks, relieved with masses of red stock bricks and stone dressings. The lofty character of the building will receive due advantage from the rising ground on which it stands, and when completed will certainly form one of the most striking objects in the neighbourhood. The estimated cost of the building is £4,450, and the contract is let to Messrs Southern and Sons, of Salford. The work is being carried out from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr Henry Lord, architect, Manchester. [Manchester Guardian 14 July 1884 page 7]

Reference    Manchester Guardian 14 July 1884 page 7
Reference    Manchester City News, Saturday 19 July 1884