121-129, FORE STREET

Details

HERTFORD

TL3212NE FORE STREET
817-1/17/91 (North side)
10/02/50 Nos.121-129 (Odd)
(Formerly Listed as:
FORE STREET
Staff Quarters, Christ's Hospital)

GV II

Girls' school, subsequently staff quarters, now subdivided as
5 houses in single terrace. 1778, with C19 rear extensions and
later alterations. Brown brick with cherry red dressings, old
tiled roof. Classroom with accommodation in wings, now
subdivided as separate units.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics. Front elevation has 12 first
floor recessed sash windows, 6 in each wing, alternating
single and triple, with glazing bars, beneath red rubbed flat
arches. Ground floor with doorways below single sashes, and
triple-light sashes as first floor. Projecting plat band at
first-floor level. 2 floors (Nos 121 & 123) with 3-light
fanlights and flat hoods to left, 2 similar doors with
trelliswork porches and coved lead roofs to right. Centre bay
of front has large Venetian window to former classroom on
first floor, triple sashes, 12:20:12-pane with arched top in
centre and radiating bars, beneath rubbed red brick flat and
semicircular arches. Niches to left and right with statues of
Bluecoat girls; central triple sash windows on ground floor;
attic pediment with central lunette.
Rear elevation altered by single storey brick hip-roofed
projections left and right alternating with raised flat-roofed
extensions on first floor. Centre has 2-bay former
schoolrooms, single storey with attics, brick with old tiled
roofs with large gabled dormer at left and gabled projection
at right. 2 large multi-paned triple light Venetian windows
with brick rubbed arches and stone keyblocks. Ground floor has
projecting brick porch offset right of centre with red
semicircular arched doorway, with late C20 battened door. Half
glazed door with margin glazing in left gable, with attic
lunette with radiating bars.
Roof with 8 casement dormers with moulded cornices and lead
cheeks and flat roofs with parapeted gable ends, left and
right, moulded wood eaves cornice, central pediment front and
rear, with 5 brick chimney stacks, at ends, and along ridge
with oversailing courses and earthenware pots.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: although Christ's Hospital purchased the


Hertford site north of Fore Street in 1683, the girls' school
was not built until 1778 as a self-contained block, with the
boys continuing to use the major part of the site until the
move to Horsham at the turn of the 19th century. The girls'
block had been extended in the 19th century by addition of the
rear schoolrooms. After construction of the new dormitory
blocks in 1904-6, the former girls' school was used as staff
accommodation until 1986, after which it was converted to 5
residential units.
(Turnor L: History of Hertford: Hertford: 1830-: 323-331;
Victoria History of the Counties of England: Hertfordshire:
London: 1902-1912: 491; Royal Commission on Historical
Monuments (England): An Inventory of the Historical Monuments
of Hertfordshire: London: 1910-: 113-4; Hope Bagenal: The
Georgian and Post Georgian Buildings of Hertford: 1929-:
10-11; Hertfordshire Countryside: Morrison J: Bluecoats in
Hertfordshire: Letchworth: 1946-1954: 62-3; Hertfordshire
Countryside: Forrester H: Hertford homes in Georgian days:
Letchworth: 1946-1961: 150-152; Hertfordshire Countryside:
Moodey G: Georgian brickwork of the choicest sort: Letchworth:
1946-1973: 26-7; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N:
Hertfordshire: Harmondsworth: 1977-: 188; Page FM: History of
Hertford: Hertford: 1993-: 58,59,97,122,125-6).

Listing NGR: TL3293212714

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

461337

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1902), 491
Page, F M, History of Hertford, (1993), 58 59 97
Page, F M, History of Hertford, (1993), 122 125-6
Bagenal, H, The Georgian and Post Georgian Buildings of Hertford, (1929), 10-11
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 188
Turnor, L, History of Hertford, (1830), 323-331
Hertfordshire Countryside in Hertfordshire Countryside, (1946-1954), 62-63
Hertfordshire Countryside in Hertfordshire Countryside, (1946-1961), 150-152
Hertfordshire Countryside in Hertfordshire Countryside, (1946-1973), 26-27

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

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