St Luke's Parochial School - Carlton Road - Nottingham, Nottinghamshire - Former Schools on Waymarking.com

"The parish of St Luke, Carlton Road, Nottingham was formed in 1861 out of the parish of St Mary’s. It was located on the eastern side of the town bordering the township and ancient parish of Sneinton. The road separating the two parishes was the dividing line. The site was previously part of one of the large open fields that surrounded Nottingham, known as the Clay Field. By 1861 the area had already been laid out and the roads and streets were in place. An application including a set of plans requesting financial assistance to build a church on the site, was made to the Independent Church Building Society by Charles Hutchinson in 1857 but had been rejected.

On 2nd July 1861 the church foundation stone was laid by Mr Thomas Adams, a wealthy textile manufacturer with premises in St Mary’s parish. The design was entrusted to a local architect Robert Challand of Castle Gate, Nottingham, who in the 1850s had designed nearby St Mark’s Church, another new parish and church instigated by St Mary’s. St Mark’s was only a ten-minute walk from St Luke’s. Challand’s design for St Mark’s had not been well received and many were surprised by the decision to employ him. Work on the new building was interrupted due to the original builder Thomas Garland of Union Road, Nottingham being declared bankrupt. Another local firm Messrs C C and A Dennett were engaged, but in 1862 work stopped again when the gables of the partially completed structure were damaged during a gale. This forced Challand to revise the plans by substituting vertical wooden shafts attached to the outer wall carrying arched cross beams supporting a centre post and crossing diagonal rafters. This created a building without any internal shafts giving a completely clear floor with an open nave and aisles. The church was completed and opened by Dr Jackson the Bishop of Lincoln in 1863.

The original seating capacity was said to be 900, but the most common figure recorded was 700. Challand estimated that the building costs would be £2977 it was eventually £3600. The entire sum was raised by public subscription before the building was opened.

The first incumbent in 1863, the Rev Henry Daniels, then aged 32, was quick to extend the facilities in the parish. In his first year he established a mission room in an old factory on Poplar Street located at the southern end of the parish. He also pressed for the building of a Parish School on vacant land on the other corner St Luke’s Street. This was accomplished within one year due to the generosity of James Holwell the owner of a hosiery works near St Luke’s. Holwell gave the land and paid the entire cost of the building, which was opened in 1864. This building, faced in ashlar Bulwell stone and which still survives, was St Luke’s Parochial School.

Within a few years the Parish School proved to be far too small and once again a local benefactor William Windley paid for a new school on the corner of Liverpool Street and Salford Street, a few minutes’ walk from St Luke’s. It was designated for use by the boys, leaving the girls more space in the Carlton Road building.

Both schools were taken over by the Nottingham School Board in 1895, at which time they catered for 450 scholars. In 1901 they were both closed with the opening of a new larger Nottingham Board school on Bath Street. The boys’ school, which looked very much like a small church or chapel, became a Gospel Hall surviving until its demolition in 1972 as part of the area redevelopment plan. The premises occupied by the girls’ school continued to be used as a Sunday School, even after St Luke’s was closed in 1923. It was eventually sold to a commercial interest about 1955."

SOURCE - (Visit Link)

Address: Carlton Road Nottingham, Nottinghamshire England Web Site: Not listed

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