Description

TQ 3482 RAMSEY STREET
788/9/10106 Former Bethnal Green British School

GV II

British school. Built in 1839 with front extension added 1872. Original part of stock brick with stuccoed parapet and two end full height pilasters. Hipped slate roof. Two storeys, with central attic of three bays of 1872 and 13 windows to first floor and 10 windows to 1872 ground floor extension. Attic storey has 6-pane sashes. First floor windows are sash windows with glazing bars intact. Central cambered entrance in 1872 addition and original side entrances under stuccoed plaques, BOYS to left and GIRLS to right. Left side elevation has three blanks. Rear elevation has cambered pivoting casements to first floor of Boys room but the Girls room has later C19 casements within original cambered heads. Interior retains timber and wrought iron roof trusses The former Abbey Street British Schools were built for the Spitalfields and Bethnal Green British Society, designed to accommodate 500 children aged six to fifteen. There were two large schoolrooms for boys and girls, entered from the end bays and separated by central spaces, of two storeys, for a schoolmaster's house and a visitors room. Built to conform with the Lancastrian system the schoolrooms were designed for hundreds of children to sit in rows facing the front with spaces behind their benches for monitorial supervision and inner end platforms for the masters. In 1872 the main range, which originally had a pediment and bell turret was altered by the addition of a classroom at the front and the attic extension in place of the bell turret. An early example and an extremely rare survival.

Listing NGR: TQ3430682396

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26407193

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy