Institutions Archives - shorehambysea.com

October 16, 2024April 21, 2025

The Clocks of St Mary’s

The church records show that the wooden, diamond shaped clock was first fixed to the south wall of the tower in 1828. However there is earlier evidence of a clockface on St Mary’s tower in the John Butler Sketch of 1786 and a watercolour of 1782. It is recorded that that face was moved and installed higher up in 1862. The East and West faces were added in 1898 – they are differentiated by their slightly convex blue faces. The South face had disappeared between 1898 and 1937 when it and the North face were installed – flat but thicker clockfaces. So it is only post-1937 that all four faces were evident.

1786 Sketch with the church tower with, inset, an enlargement of the shape at the belfry window and detail from a 1782 watercolour

Note the South face diamond shape clock. *Watercolour painting by F. Nash (1782-1856)*

August 2, 2024August 22, 2024

Southlands Harness block 1978

Thanks to Tony Clevett, Neil DeVille and Roger Bateman we have newly discovered scans of the construction of Southlands Hospital Harness block. This was constructed between 1977 and 1978. For the full history of this short-lived building visit the Southlands article.

April 8, 2024May 9, 2024

St Nicolas School

September 15, 2023April 8, 2025

Victoria Road School

Junior School (built as The Victoria Upper Council School in 1915)

Victoria Road school has a curious history. Following the Education Act 1870, a school board for New Shoreham was established in 1872, taking over the National Schools and replacing them with a new school in Ham Road in 1875.

In 1913 £4500 was allocated to build a new school on Victoria Road. This was the preferred site to the alternative proposal between Rosslyn Road and Gordon Road. Clearance of many mature trees was required and demolition of on the site of the derelict and overgrown Swiss Gardens including removal of the walls to the “Dungeon” passageway between Victoria Road and Old Shoreham. By 1915 older children from Ham Road School went to the newly built Victoria Upper Council School.

February 25, 2023April 9, 2024

Ham Road School

The school was built in 1875 as a Board School in Ham Road for an estimated attendance of 240. It was later enlarged in 1896 and 1907. By 1904 attendance was 557, in three departments, to which a junior mixed department was added in 1913. The school was reorganized, in partly new buildings, in 1915, the older children going to Victoria Upper Council school. The Headmaster from 1901 until 1915, Oswald Ball (1871-1954) moved to become headmaster at Victoria Road. Ham Road School ceased to be a school in 1938, when there was an attendance of 551 in junior mixed and infant departments, to be replaced by schools in the newly enlarged Victoria Road Schools.

January 4, 2023August 23, 2023

King’s Manor School – Kingston Lane

King’s Manor Girls School in Kingston Lane was built in 1959 to replace the sister school as the senior school for three parishes.

Kings Manor Girls School Kingston Lane 1960

October 2, 2021September 14, 2024

Middle Road Secondary School 1936-1992

– the new school photographs and plans in 1936 with reminiscences of former pupils from the 1940’s to 1990’s

Built in 1936 on a five-acre site in Middle Road, Kingston, where the recreation ground is now but then in land that had largely been used as fruit orchards and nurseries by the Cook’s Jam Factory in Dolphin Road. Initially opened as a boys’ senior elementary school for 360 pupils it included a number of unusual features (for those days) in both design and construction. It was built of reinforced concrete and flat roofs to allow for future extensions to be placed on top of the ground floor building and enabled wider spans for rooms that, with the large Crittall windows also installed gave pupils and teachers a bright and spacious environment.

Now

February 15, 2021May 11, 2024

Victoria Road School 1950’s

Following on from the popularity of the 1946 class group photograph from Middle Road School, we now have wonderful images from Victoria Road School in 1949 and and 1953. These were given to us by Jenny Elton who lived up the road in Mill Lane. Can you put a name to any of the children?

*1953: Victoria Road School upper playground. Click to expand.*

Jenny can remember some of the names and recounts: “First left Brian McIntyre who in later life was the school caretaker. 2nd from right Tom Blundell, now Sir Tom, Professor of Chemistry, Oxford Fellow of the Royal Society etc. Interestingly his younger brother Roger is also a Sir (Economics). The tallest boy in the back row, Roger Brann was a St. Wilfrid boy and together with Tom were the class brain boxes.“

*Photo of the 1949 Percussion band at Victoria Road. (Jenny is in the back row 1st left)*

You’ll find a detailed article on Victoria Road Infants and Junior Schools here.

January 26, 2021August 23, 2023

Middle Road School 1946

An excellent photograph has arrived from Colin Wadey who has kindly permitted us to re-publish it here. This is Middle Road Secondary Boys School in 1946, around 10 years after the school was built. Colin has listed his classmates – with quite a few familiar Shoreham names in the roll.

**1946 Class 3A in Main Hall** (click to enlarge)

Southlands – Workhouse and Hospital

Southlands Hospital – brief history

Southlands Hospital’s origin can be traced to the Steyning Union Workhouse that was built in a different location, at Ham Road, in central Shoreham in 1836. Later additions included infirmaries built in 1870, vagrant’s wards and a chapel. The union included parishes in East and West Sussex and the growth of population in its coastal areas meant that, despite much additional building, an enlarged site was required by the 1890s.