Chelmsford, Grammar School 1892
Photo ref: 31516
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Photo ref: 31516
Photo of Chelmsford, Grammar School 1892

More about this scene

For a while the Bewleys' only local rival had been the London Road Ironworks, which was opposite a house called The Cloisters. This house had been built on the site of The Friars, a private residence that stood where the Dominican priory's tumbledown refectory had once been. It is conceivable that, following the Grammar School's hasty exit from the old refectory, it had been patched up and gentrified until, by the 18th century, it had mutated into one of the town's more respectable residences. The priory's last vestige, the gatehouse on the west side of Moulsham Street, was demolished in 1857. The pathway leading through it had solidified into the road known as Friars Place. The Grammar School itself had had a rough ride through the 19th century. Ever since the town's Georgian gentrification, the school, with its curriculum of dead languages, had seemed increasingly out of date. What Chelmsford's wealthy tradesmen wanted was a school that taught accounting and the three Rs - and they accordingly took their sons elsewhere. By 1846 the school only had three pupils, and was soon forced to shut. It reopened in 1856, with a wider range of subjects on offer, and numbers started to rise dramatically. The washhouse had to be converted into a second classroom. It was, of course, only a temporary answer, as the site was so constricted. In 1892 the school moved to its third official home, in new buildings just up Broomfield Road (see photograph 31516, below). There was now space for 126 day-boys and 24 boarders.

A Selection of Memories from Chelmsford

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Chelmsford

Sparked a Memory for you?

If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?

Does anybody remember the name of a pub that was in Victoria Road South? It was on the left hand side around 75 yards from Duke Street on the way to where the police station can now be found. It formed part of the island of buildings that stood between VRS and the Railway Station service road but must have been demolished in the early 1970s to make way for the present office block. Does anybody have any memories of the place?
I trained and qualified as an SRN in 1963 at Chelmsford and Essex Hospital. It was 3 years of hard work and fun. I wonder what has happened to the building.
At 16 I joined the Essex Police Cadet School in 1970. The School was built in the late 1960s. Training at the School was for two years. On site education, accommodation and sports facilities was provided. We also were 'bussed' to Chelmsford College of a Further Education - here on a part time basis we obtained qualifications. Part of our training included participating in athletic events ...see more
Looking for help naming a record shop that was in Duke Street in the mid seventies. It was on the left after the Lion & Lamb if you were heading towards the High Street.