More Schools
School buildings are a good source of lettering
examples. That which
stands
close to W.B. Kerridge at the corner of
Gatacre
Road and Bramford Road is now used as part of the redeveloped Suffolk
Record
Office. The renovation has revealed the polychrome brick and terra
cotta.
-
This remarkably decorative finish to the two gables has
the integral
lettering
on the friezes: 'IPSWICH SCHOOL BOARD' and 'BRAMFORD ROAD SCHOOL'
against
an almost Islamic diamond-decorated background with polychrome roundel
against
chequerboard background in a triangle. It was much later that we
discovered round the corner in Gatacre Road - home of the Sir John
Mills Theatre and Eastern Angles - that a veritable orgy of lettering
was spread over the 'side entrances' to the old school.
Long shot in 2005 (pity it was bin day...)
'GIRLS' and 'SCHOOL' in the Gothic script used
throughout
The central Borough crest (lion rampant with three ship
prows) in rubbed red brick
'ERECTED' and 'A.D. MDCCCLXXXVIII' (which we construe
as
1888) [see UPDATE below]
'INFANTS' and 'SCHOOL' with decoration at top
And, moving down to the corner with Bramford Road, we nearly missed the
following non-standard shield with 'Infants' and 'BOYS' above a
(probably) disused door behind which Suffolk Record Office buzzes with
scholarship.
[UPDATE 16.4.09: "I would be
suprised if Bramford Road Board School in Ipswich were built in 1838.
There were no 'school boards' in 1838, indeed until the 1870 Act
education was a rather hamfisted affair, mainly operated by the
Churches.
I would at a guess say 1878 - compared it to the Pauls Road 'Ranleigh
School' - the building looks older, much more in age and style to
Argyle St.
I would call in at the Ipswich records office (now based at the old
Bramford Road school) and ask for the date of the building.
Harry". Thanks to Harry for prompting a third or fourth look at these
troublesome Roman numerals: we're now sure that it's an 'L' for 50 in
the middle of the date.]
Meanwhile in Argyle Street, opposite the former Harry
Seaman premises, we find another fine example commissioned by
Ipswich
Board School in 1872. Crown, thistle, clover and rose motifs appear on
the
polychrome arched surround. The roundel is used as a masthead on our
hompage.
-
And at Clifford Road School, in east Ipswich some
rather fine relief
lettering
remains over several entrances, recalling the days of strict separation
of Boys, Girls and 'INFANTS'. The slab serif capitals are stretched in
relief
across the curving entrance to terminate in a splendidly-bellied
'S'.This
example faces Woodville Road and is now only used as a fire exit. The
school
was built in the first decade of the twentieth century.
See the 'Pathology'
doorway
for a similar
'feel'.
Below: a sunny morning picks out the very grand alcoved armorial crest
high
on the gable tops and lettered stone band below:
'RANELAGH ROAD ... COUNCIL SCHOOL'
Paul's Road is now an access road to small business and the Co-op
warehouses;
it's also a many-humped rat run from Ranelagh Road to Crane's Hill
(London
Road). From it we see what is effectively the rear of the buildings,
standing
on the gentle hill.
-
Until it was demolished and replaced in 2007/8 by a
rather brutal modern structure, there stood in Curriers Lane a much
earlier school
bearing the tablet
below. Up to that time it was still used as an educational
establishment.
...and a clearer picture:
(Photograph
courtesy Mike
O'Donovan)
'GREY COAT BOYS
& BLUE COAT GIRLS
CHARITY SCHOOL
FOUNDED IN 1709. REBUILT 1875'
The Grey Coat School was the earliest of the charity schools in Ipswich
promoted by members of the Established Church. It was opened in
Curriers Lane in 1709 with the aim of reviving the practice of
Christianity by instructing young boys at the school. The master for 43
years was James Franks. For part of that time his wife Elizabeth ran
the associated Blue Coat School for girls while her husband took on the
teaching of navigation, in accordance with the bequest of a former
pupil, as well as everything else; he resigned ill and exhausted in
January 1874 and died six weeks later. The role of the schools was
taken over by board and later council schools. The Blue Coat School
opened to female pupils in 1710, however the belief in the unimportance
of girls' education was reflected in the withdrawal of writing classes
in 1737 due to the cost. One question: given the clear division of
gender and respective coat colours, why was there a notorious public
house not far away in Old Cattle Market (now a restaurant following a
fire and a
rebuild in the 1980s) called 'The Blue Coat Boy'? [See Reading List: Malster, R.]
Round the corner in Elm Street is 'IPSWICH
BOARD SCHOOL' on a stone shield above an old
school entrance which is now occupied by the solicitors Gotelee and
Goldsmith.
(Photograph courtesy
Mike O'Donovan)
Also Smart Street School for another
'Infants'
entrance.
Plus Ipswich Ragged Schools.
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Copyright throughout this site belongs to Borin Van Loon, 2003.