As well as visiting Edge Hill station last Sunday I paid a visit to the former site of Edge Hill College on Durning Road. Following the closure of Edge Hill Secondary Modern for Boys it’s been replaced with a housing estate but there’s a nice nod to its past with one of the streets called Old College Place.
Now Elaine, wasn’t that worth the wait… no?!
These architects’ plans show the proposed enlargement to the Durning Road site in the early 20th century. The extension opened on 31st October 1903 with three new classrooms, two laboratories, a library, gymnasium and two additional dormitories.
Despite extensive fund raising, the College was still had a debt on the building works to the tune of £7,000 – the Grand Bazaar I wrote about the other day raised £3,900 to go towards this.
There’s not enough Bazaars – Grand or otherwise – these days.
I’ve mentioned Durning Road – the original site of Edge Hill College – a few times but now we get to look at maps!
Thanks to EDINA’s Historic Digimap service which Edge Hill subscribes to we can see old maps of the area. The map above is from 1908 and shows how the old tram system ran straight past the college.
This photo of Edge Hill Secondary Modern School for Boys was published in The Crest, Edge Hill’s magazine, in 1959. The school was built on the site of the original college in Durning Road.
According to this website the school opened in 1957:
There were Primary and Secondary schools. The Girls’ Secondary Modern was the first to close, in 1973, when it amalgamated with Newsham Secondary into Fairfield Secondary Modern. The Head, Miss C E WATSON, transferred to Fairfield. When it closed in 1982, the head of the infants was Mrs O B WALSH. She remained with Kensington Infants which used the old Edge Hill Secondary Girls’. The Boys’ Secondary school closed in 1982. Pupils were scattered, many of them going to New Heys. The Head, Mr A H THOMAS retired, and the building was used for a time as part of Old Swan Technical College.
You know when you go to places like Alton Towers and they try to sell you an over-priced photo of you with your eyes closed on a roller coaster? I assumed that was a relatively recent phenomenon and restricted to the tackier side of entertainment attractions, but it seems I was wrong…
Taken during a visit to the Rushworth & Dreaper Collection of Antique Musical Instruments, 13 Islington Liverpool.
Students of Edge Hill Training College. 30th May 1928
It seems it was so much fun they had to go back a few years later:
Miss Deakin & Students, Edge Hill Training College. 17th June 1931
And by then it was a regular visit out:
Miss M. Deakin & Students, Edge Hill Training College. 6th June 1932
Keeping up the weekly posts of maps from years gone by is this lovely example from the back cover of the 1983 prospectus. It’s similar in design to last week’s example from 1989 but with even less concern that roads should go where they actually are. The appearance of St Helens and Warrington on this map makes it even stranger that they’re absent six years later. Salford is cryptically plotted by an unfilled circle as if to say “well done Salford, but you’re no Manchester, are you?”
My favourite bit of the map is probably the note about rail connections:
Main Line INTER-CITY services to Liverpool (Lime Street)
Frequent electric train MERSEYRAIL Liverpool to Ormskirk