Wilderspin National School case study

A building of international significance due to its association with the early Victorian education pioneer Samuel Wilderspin has been restored thanks to the dedication of the Queen Street School Preservation Trust and funding from Yorkshire Forward.

The school’s original Wilderspin schoolroom and a later Victorian classroom have been restored, as has the playground which is the only fully restored Wilderspin playground in the UK. The building is now open as a heritage attraction and educational and community facility.

To provide additional income for the school, the former domestic science block has been refurbished to provide office space for small businesses.

The South Humber Collection

The project was undertaken as part of the South Humber Heritage Tourism Project, a suite of cultural heritage projects and activities developed out of a partnership between North Lincolnshire Council, the Environment Agency, English Heritage, English Nature, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Queen Street School Preservation Trust, with additional funding from Yorkshire Forward and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Wilderspin National School now takes its place as a key part of the South Humber Collection,
North Lincolnshire - a new destination made up of the area’s leading wildlife and heritage attractions, stretching from Thornton Abbey in the east to Alkborough in the west.

The project location

The Wilderspin National School (previously known as Queen Street School) is in the centre of Barton upon Humber and forms part of a group of Victorian public buildings in
the town’s Conservation Area. Restoration of the school has greatly improved the unique Victorian street scene, the built heritage and visual aspects of this important part of the Conservation Area.

Samuel Wilderspin (1791-1866)

Wilderspin is one of the founding fathers of modern schooling and had a profound impact on educational practice and the design and furnishing of schools and their grounds. He became best known for his pioneering work on infant schools, but his innovations transformed schooling for children of all ages, worldwide. Wilderspin is credited with inventing the school playground and the classroom, and for pioneering new teaching methods, and his approach - developing a child’s feelings as well as their
intellect, encouraging a spirit of enquiry, learning through experience, arts and nature, group activities and play - has proved to be remarkably far-sighted and long-lasting, despite being incredibly controversial at the time.

Queen Street School

Built in 1844 as a combined Infant School for children from 2 to 7 years old, and a National School for older boys and girls, the building is in the Tudor-Revival style and a Grade II* Listed Building. The H-plan building originally contained three schoolrooms and a house for the master, and behind it was a generous playground for Wilderspin’s infants, complete with swings, flower beds and fruit trees. In the later 19th century, an additional schoolroom was built at the rear, the large rooms were subdivided into smaller classrooms and a new school house was built for the head master.

The school is considered to be of outstanding national heritage value due to its close links with Wilderspin (who not only helped to design the school, but also taught there), and due to the way it embodies his educational innovations and served as a model for other schools. It is the only place in the world where a Wilderspin school building and playground survives, making it a place of national and international importance.

In disrepair

Having fallen out of use in 1978, when the last pupils moved to a newer school, the playground became an unofficial car park and the building itself, identified by English Heritage as a Building at Risk, became increasingly derelict. In 1987 the late Victorian school house was controversially demolished to make way for the car park.

Queen Street School Preservation Trust

Formed in 1993 by local people and organisations dedicated to protect Queen Street School, the Trust’s Mission Statement is “To restore the former Queen Street School and find uses to ensure its long term viability as a celebration of the life and work of Samuel Wilderspin, for the benefit of the people of Barton upon Humber and elsewhere”. In 1998 the Trust joined forces with other partners - Barton Civic Society, Barton Town Council, Barton Regeneration Partnership and North Lincolnshire Council - to make the Mission Statement a reality.

Over the following years, various schemes were proposed but were hampered by lack of funding, design problems and the difficulty of finding an appropriate use. In 2004 a new scheme was developed by the Trust in partnership with the £4.5m South Humber Heritage Tourism Project. It was developed by partners to create a network of key
heritage tourism attractions on the South Humber Bank to act as a catalyst for regeneration and the development of the tourism potential of the Yorkshire region.

Bringing the building back into use The Trust’s scheme combined heritage conservation with sympathetic mixed use of the site. It was decided that the best way to preserve the building, whilst making it economically viable, was to restore the building and playground to its original state for use as a heritage and education attraction, whilst also providing space for community use. The former domestic science block, an extension built in the 1930s, was refurbished to provide a flexible space for rent or hire as office space and for community activities.

The original Wilderspin playground, with its playground swing, trees and flowers, has been reconstructed. The restored school building contains reconstructions of the unique 1840s Wilderspin Infant Schoolroom and a later Victorian Classroom, complete with gas lighting, an 1840s-style tiered seating gallery (designed so each pupil could see the teacher) and teaching posts. Other rooms contain displays of educational history, a shop and refreshment area, an office and an archive room, and multi-purpose community facilities.

The restoration process

A team of experts spent a great deal of time researching the school and conducting surveys to ensure that the school was restored as accurately as possible. The original school Log Books and plans were studied, along with Wilderspin’s writings. But the most valuable information came from an archaeological and historic building survey undertaken as a requirement of the planning approval and forming an integral part of the grant-aided project. This survey, recording significant historic features, greatly assisted the reconstruction of the classrooms, locating fittings such as coat rails and former doorways and windows, and revealing evidence of the historic colour schemes decorating the rooms.

Outside, the archaeological work revealed the site of the long-lost 1840s outdoor privies, one of which has now been reconstructed. These discoveries, together with numerous finds like the children’s counting beads and writing slates, and even cigarette cards and bus tickets, have shed new light on the history of the school and have shown that even fairly modest Victorian buildings can yield new discoveries.

Original features and historic fabric were retained wherever possible and, where items like doors had deteriorated and were incapable of re-use, accurate reproductions were made. Where modifications were needed to suit modern needs, for instance to improve access, then this was done sensitively and in keeping with the school’s
historic character.

Collecting memories

As part of the restoration process and preparations for opening the school as a heritage attraction, former pupils and teachers were invited to share their memories of the school. Interviews were filmed and recorded for the school’s archive. DVDs of edited highlights have proved to be very popular with the public, and there are plans to
produce copies for sale and as part of teacher’s educational packs.

Educational programmes and research

As well as providing an exciting and informative experience for visitors and tourists, the school is a centre for developing educational programmes and outreach for schools from the region and beyond. In heritage terms the school ranks as one of the prime educational heritage sites in the UK, and is linked with other leading sites in the UK and Europe. They are developing partnerships within the UK and abroad - especially with partners in Europe - drawing on educational heritage to inform current debates about schools and parenting, and to promote exchange of ideas, skills and practice in the care and development of the young.

Project delivery

1978
School closes for the final time
1987
School house demolished
1993
Queen Street School Preservation Trust established
2004-7
Heritage-based scheme developed by the Trust as part of the South Humber Bank Partnership
2006
Planning consent granted
2007
Work begins on site
2009
School open as a heritage attraction

Funding

Yorkshire Forward £760,000
Heritage Lottery Fund £858,500
English Heritage £198,025
WREN Ltd £40,000
SITA Trust £33,645
Glanford Buildings Preservation Trust £10,000

Successes

• Forming a key element of the South Humber Collection, this project secured funding from a range of partners. Good working relationships were established and have helped with this complex scheme.
• The school has good support in the local community and has restored a prominent conservation area Building at Risk in the town centre for community, business and education use. Visitor numbers are encouraging and feedback has been positive.
• 2 new businesses established in the refurbished annexe, with 5 new jobs created, including three at the school, 50 volunteers recruited developing new skills
• Active involvement with work-focused volunteering as part of Department of Work & Pensions Volunteering Programme
• The extensive archeological investigations have paid dividends in the museum and are now some of the most popular exhibits.

Lessons Learnt

• The importance of partnership working with a wide range of bodies and individuals in order to be able to draw on a wide range of experience and to maximise opportunities.
• Clear project management, with a core steering group and specialist sub groups and advisors is important as is having a team with experience of heritage projects.
• Having historic and archaeological information available early in the process is key so that it can be properly taken into account during design and construction. When unexpected discoveries were made it was thanks to the help of archeological specialists and volunteers, and the flexibility of the building contractors, that the building work could continue elsewhere whilst the appropriate archeological investigations were made. The volunteers are also assisting with the large quantity of cataloging which had not been anticipated.
• The importance of PR and promotion! Having a professional looking website and being able to link into the PR and marketing surrounding the South Humber Collection has helped. Initially the importance of a good website was overlooked as activity was more focused towards the building itself. The school now has a talented media team helping them develop this which has made a big difference not only to the way that the public sees the project but also the way they see it themselves.

More about this success story

For more information please contact:
Ian Wolseley
Wilderspin National School
Queen Street
Barton upon Humber
North Lincolnshire
DN18 5QP
01652 635172
www.wilderspinschool.org.uk/

Fay Robinson
Yorkshire Forward
5 Marina Court
Castle Street
Hull
HU1 1TJ
01482 599 016
fay.robinson@yorkshire-forward.com

For information on the South Humber Collection:
www.south-humber-collection.org