The Heeley Board School in Sheffield

 

By the grace of God knowledge will be beneficial

After a good walk in rural Rotherham, to further explore the Cadeby Formation and associated historic buildings between Throapham and Maltby, I returned to Sheffield a week later to continue with my investigation of the Sheffield Board Schools.

 

An exploration of Sheffield Board Schools

 

Catching a bus from Sheffield and then alighting at Richards Road, I walked along St. Anns Road, where I took a few photos of the details on the south elevation of the former St. Andrew’s Methodist and Sunday School, before continuing to the former Heeley Board School – both of which I had seen a few years earlier at the end of a walk down the Gleadless Valley.

 

The former St. Andrew's Methodist Church and Sunday School

Heeley Board School, designed by C.J. Innocent and built in two phases - 1890-1892 and 1897 – comprises three blocks and was the largest and the most expensive of the Sheffield Board Schools, eventually accommodating 1656 pupils.

 

The north block at Heeley Board School

 

This included facilities for cookery and metalwork, which were shared with other schools and, between 1896 and 1905, it also provided evening classes for pupils, aged 12 to 21, who had not been provided with an elementary education.

 

The infants' block at Heeley Board School

This was the last school for which Innocent was commissioned and, although the Renaissance Revival style used here is extremely simple compared to his earlier work at the Lowfield and Walkley schools for example, there are still some of his characteristic flourishes.

 

Details on the infants' block

In the infants school of 1890, these include herringbone masonry, various scrolled cartouches incorporating a datestone and the Sheffield School Board name, with inscribed and relief lettering marking various entrances - all of which are examples of the finest craftsmanship.

 

The south block

 

Looking at the stonework, the well bedded, uniformly buff coloured medium grained sandstone in the general walling is consistent with the Crawshaw Sandstone used for the majority of the schools that I had seen to date, with the dressings probably being Stoke Hall stone.

 

The south block

Moving round to the south block, which has a datestone of 1897, there is a continuation of the architectural style, materials and details that I had seen in the infants’ school, which is also maintained in the north block.

A detail of the south block

The school closed in 2006 after a new school was built to the north of the site but, after a period of being unoccupied and subject to vandalism, the buildings are now partly occupied by Sum Studios and various businesses. With motion detectors operating in parts of the site, I just took a few quick snaps of the elevations of the buildings facing the central courtyard, before continuing my walk.

 

Views of the courtyard