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2024

SP0989 : Nechells School, Eliot Street

taken 8 months ago, near to Gravelly Hill, Birmingham, England

Nechells School, Eliot Street
Nechells School, Eliot Street
Nechells Primary School opened in 1879 as Hutton Street Board School, in a Gothic revival building designed by J H Chamberlain and William Martin, architects to the Birmingham School Board. The Board came into being as a result of the Elementary Education Act of 1870, sometimes known as the Forster Act after the Liberal MP, William Forster, who introduced the bill to Parliament. The Act gave local school boards powers to set up new schools, known as board schools, and to pay the fees of the poorest children. Campaigners from Birmingham had agitated for state provision of education through the Birmingham Education League, which became the National Education League in 1869.

By 1902, when local authorities took control of schools from the boards, the Birmingham School Board had built fifty-two new schools, most of them designed by Martin and Chamberlain. They developed a distinct house style, of which the Nechells school, built in a very working-class industrial area, is a fine example: red brick Gothic with a tall tower, pointed windows and gables all giving strong vertical accents, and intended to inspire children. In 1894 the Pall Mall Gazette commented that, ‘In Birmingham you may generally recognise a Board School by its being the best building in the neighbourhood… with lofty towers which serve the utilitarian purpose of giving excellent ventilation, gabled windows, warm red bricks and stained glass, the best of the Birmingham Board Schools have quite an artistic finish'.

The Eliot Street school is one of several that are still in use as schools. It is a Grade II listed building: see the listing at the Historic England site LinkExternal link . See also Richard Vinen, Second City: Birmingham and the Forging of Modern Britain, Allen Lane, 2022, pp99-100.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright A J Paxton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Suburb, Urban fringe Educational sites Period: Victorian Style: Gothic Revival other tags: Victorian School Board School Gothic Revival Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Articles: · Events On This Day In History Automatic Clusters: · Board School [2] Other Photos: · Monument to a school, Goodrick Way, Nechells · The Olive School, Small Heath ·
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SP0989, 175 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
A J Paxton   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Saturday, 13 July, 2024   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 14 July, 2024
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 09366 89575 [1m precision]
WGS84: 52:30.2397N 1:51.8069W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SP 09355 89568
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