Frances Bardsley Lower School

Details

TQ 58 NW
940/10/10014

HEATH PARK ROAD, Romford
Frances Bardsley Lower School

II

High School for girls, founded by Francis Bardsley. 1909-10 by Hickton and Farmer of Walsall. Red brick with artificial stone dressings; machine tile roofs.
EXTERIOR: symmetrical north and south elevations. North front of 2 storeys; 15-window range. Central single-storey entrance narthex with elaborated central doorway of rusticated piers carrying stepped parapet with heavy keyblocks and coat of arms of Essex County Council. Double-leaf panelled doors with upper glazing. Oval mullioned and transomed window right and left, with swags above. 3 4/4 horned sashes either side. Main elevation behind consists of 5 mullioned cross casements with top-and-bottom-hung openers and glazing bars to first floor lighting central hall. Brick pilasters separate the windows and end with a stone cornice. Flanking the hall either side is one projecting and gabled eminence containing the staircases, with rusticated brick pilasters framing a double-leaf door with glazed upper panels set within an artificial stone architrave with a prominent keyblock. One tall cross casement with glazing bars to upper storev. Outer blocks consist of 4-window ranges terminating in rusticated brick pilasters rising to a plain stone cornice. Fenestration of arched ground-floor windows with glazing bars and top-hung openers set below keyblocks. 4 cross casements to first floor with glazing bars, and stone apron plaques. Central hall with gabled roof carrying central square bell-cote with open oval sides and a small dome. Internal gable-end stacks. Outer blocks with gabled roofs, hipped to east and west.
South elevation of 2 storeys; 18-window range. Pair of central gabled projections each with 3 cross casements to each floor, with glazing bars. One ground-floor window converted to door. Side ranges with similar casements. Slightly projecting gabled end bays, against which are single-storey hipped utility blocks. That to east with a 3-light transomed casement under a Diocletian window; that to west with only a Diocletian window as a dormer.
INTERIOR: central entrance hall reached via double-leaf half-glazed doorway in north wall. Large rectangular room occupying central 5 window bays of north elevation. Small-framed dado panelling. Balcony along south side supported on plastered steel cantilevered beams and with iron balustrade, wooden handrail and plastered panels at intervals. Elliptical plastered ceiling consisting of 5 bays of flat steel ribs springing from plastered corbels with cherub heads on floral scrolls. Between ribs are rectangular panels with semi-circular north and south ends with foliage trail to perimeter. Ceiling forms elliptical cut-outs for windows. East and west doorways on south side with double-leaf half-glazed doors beneath semicircular glazing. 2 segmentally-headed windows look into south classrooms, entered through 2 half-glazed doors. 2 stone open-well staircases with open strings and cast- and wrought-iron balustrades supporting mahogany moulded handrails. First-floor rooms to cast and west both with 3 plastered steel ribs to the ceiling and a small oval window with stained glass in the end walls.
HISTORICAL NOTE: notable as the product of campaigning by Francis Bardsley, the first head teacher, a noted campaigner for high quality education for girls.

Listing NGR: TQ5252888801

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

469610

Legacy System:

LBS

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