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Summary

St. Michael's Church of England School was built as a boys school in 1870 and enlarged by the addition of a girls school in 1875. Further additions and alterations took place in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The original 19th century buildings are a fine example of Victorian school architecture in Tudor Gothic style.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• SCHOOL (XIX - 1801 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'School' marked on 1880s-1890s 25 inch Ordnance Survey map, comprising an irregular group of buildings on the south side of South Lawn Terrace.

Parker, R. W., 2004, Newsletter - Autumn 2004, 26 (Article in Serial). SDV23282.

St Michael's Church of England School in South Lawn Terrace, Heavitree was designed by George Packham and built in 1871. The Gothic style red brick building with a steep striped slate roof was originally located in open fields. The school was enlarged in 1875 and a master's house was added to the west in 1879. Further additions were made in 1936. The building was damaged in the blitz of 1942. Some of the original buildings survived but the slate roofs and bellcote have been removed. The buildings were identified for demolition and rebuilding in 2004. Other details: Fig 15.

Bell, J. S., Wakeham, C. S. + Parker, R. W., 2007, Archaeological Monitoring and Building Survey at St Michael's Church of England School, Heavitree, Exeter, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV342041.

A survey and watching brief was undertaken at St. Michael's Church of England School in association with its partial demolition and the construction of a new school. The school was originally built in 1870-1, replacing the boys school which stood on the side of the old vicarage and church house on Fore Street. The new school, designed by George Packham, was in the Tudor Gothic style. It was a T shaped building constructed in red brick with Bathstone dressings and enriched with structural polychromy with coloured brick relieving arches and steeply pitched striped slate roofs. The interior originally had one large single schoolroom with high arched-braced roofs. A small wash house and coal house projected at the rear of the building. In 1875, a girl's school was built to the south and east of the original building in similar Gothic style and in 1879 a pair of semi-detached houses for the master and mistress were added to the west of the school buildings. Further alterations and extensions took place in the late 19th and 20th century. In a blocked doorway of a classroom added to the south of the girls school between 1904 and 1935 is a foundation stone, probably reused from the old school building in Fore street and removed here when it was demolished in 1967. The inscription reads, 'Built AD1517/on land given by/Thomas Kelly Esquire/Thomas Valence Vicar/rebuilt by the trustees/aided by subscription/Arthur Atherley Vicar/AD1840. The 19th century buildings are a fine example of Victorian school architecture, designed in Gothic style, the girls school and teachers' houses respecting the architectural character of the original boys school. The later phases of building are in a more secular, utilitarian style. The ground works associated with the redevelopment of the site exposed no archaeological features or deposits. See report for full history of the site and details of building survey.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4467 - Archaeological Monitoring and Survey of St. Michael's School, Heavitree, Exeter

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