Building Name

Heywood Municipal Technical Schools Hind Hill Street, Heywood

Date
1892 - 1894
Street
Hind Hill Street
District/Town
Heywood
County/Country
GMCA, England
Work
New Build

Heywood Technical School was opened on 1st December 1894, on a site bordered by Hind Hill Street, Pine Street, and what was then known as the Market Ground. The building, which also contained an Art School, was only half the size of that which eighteen years later would be opened as the new Heywood Day Secondary School, to be re‑named twelve years after that as Heywood Grammar School. Not only the size of the School would change. Few of its present neighbours were to be seen. The Free Library would not open until 1906, New Church Sunday School 1914, the Memorial Gardens 1926, the Police Station 1936, and the Civic Hall not until 1966.  The opening took place amid much ceremony. A large party of dignitaries gathered in the Council Chamber, those present including Mr Thomas Snape M.P., the Mayor, Councillor G. N. Hodgkinson in robe and chain, and Alderman William Healey, chairman of the Technical School Committee. Led by a detachment of police, under Superintendent Noblett, they proceeded through the town centre to the School=s main entrance in Hind Hill Street. Contemporary reports describe "a numerous assembly of spectators outside the School", which had been open for public inspection during the previous week, attracting a large number of visitors. Alderman Healey presented Mr Snape with a commemorative key, and the M.P. unlocked the door and declared the School open. There followed a seemingly interminable number of speeches, but eventually the party embarked on a tour of inspection, and Heywood officially had a Technical School. The Architects, who both designed the School and supervised its construction, were Woodhouse and Willoughby of King Street, Manchester, and the Clerk of Works was Mr Robert Hardman of Heywood. The site was chosen for its central location, and because there was land available in Pine Street for any extension which might be necessary. This foresight was to be rewarded in later years, as it was possible to expand the old building, rather than acquire a new site and build afresh.

After demolition of the "old and dilapidated" houses which occupied the site, borings were made by the Borough Engineer, Mr Diggle, and the ground was found to be unstable, necessitating extra depth for the foundations. The Architects overcame this apparent drawback by building the bottom floor as a basement, but only partly below street level, with light assured by keeping the ground floor above street level, and by leaving open areas round three sides of the building. From the Hind Hill Street entrance, reached by way of a short flight of steps, a corridor led to the various classrooms, used for the teaching of cookery, commercial subjects and science, and a large Lecture Room measuring 60 feet by 30 feet. Just inside the entrance, on the left, was a room used for secretarial work, and down a short passage a handsomely appointed Committee Room. At the end of the corridor, the stone staircase with oak newel and handrails led down to the basement and up to the first floor. A number of mullioned and transommed windows illuminated the staircase. Leading down, past the students' entrance from Pine Street, the stairs reached the basement, which accommodated the workshops for plumbing, carpentry, spinning and weaving, and also housed the heating and ventilation systems.  Leading up, they arrived at the very impressive first floor, used for chemistry and art. The Chemistry Lecture Theatre had a raised gallery to seat ninety students, and a laboratory was entered through double doors to prevent leakage of fumes. On the other side of the corridor were two rooms excellently suited to the teaching of art. The antique room measured 30ft x 30 ft, and the elementary room 49ft x 30ft. The rooms were connected, and could be used as one for exhibitions, and tall angled windows provided natural light. The building's three principal elevations were in red stock brick, with steps and landings in Whitworth stone, and enriched work including the plaque above the main entrance in Ruabon terre cotta. Sea‑green slate from Tilberthwaite quarry in the Lake District was used for the roof.  The cost of the building was just over £9000. One year after the opening the architects asked permission to loan the original pen and ink sketches of the School for exhibition at the Royal Academy, as they considered it one of the handsomest that they had ever erected.

Reference           Manchester Guardian Saturday 15 April 1893 Page 4 (Contracts)