EDUCATION. (fn. 19)
There was a schoolmaster in
Edmonton in 1583. (fn. 20) In 1606 Henry Smith of
London left a £2 annual rent-charge on premises in
Silver Street towards freeing poor boys and paying
the master until the school was wholly free. (fn. 21)
William Pulley was the schoolmaster in 1616 (fn. 22)
and the master of the 'common school-house' in
Edmonton was left money by will proved 1623. (fn. 23)
Latymer school was established under the will of
Edward Latymer dated 1624 (fn. 24) and although there is
no evidence that a school was built then, John
Wilde by will proved 1665 left £4 to the schoolmaster of the 'new school of Edmonton'. (fn. 25) By will
proved 1679 Thomas Style granted an annual rentcharge of £20 to be paid to a schoolmaster chosen
by the vestry to teach 20 poor boys Latin grammar.
At first there were apparently schoolmasters for
both Latymer's and Style's charities but in 1739 a
school-house next to the alms-houses in Church
Street (fn. 26) was purchased, possibly the one mentioned
by Henry Smith or John Wilde, and in 1742 all the
educational charities were amalgamated. Benjamin
Hare, who was nominated schoolmaster in 1680, (fn. 27)
was followed by Thomas Hare in 1724 and
Zachariah Hare in 1737. The Adams family were
headmasters from 1781 until 1868.
Latymer school catered only for boys but in 1778
a girls' charity school was started in Edmonton (fn. 28) and
in 1783 Mrs. Elizabeth Cowling left £1,454 in trust
for the education and clothing of poor children in
Southgate ward. Apparently no separate Cowling
school was founded and by 1823 £43 a year from
Mrs. Cowling's gift was applied to clothing 9 boys
and 9 girls. (fn. 29)
Christopher Taylor conducted a Quaker school in
Edmonton until c. 1682, when it was taken over by
George Keith, and Bridget Austell had one in
Southgate before she moved to Tottenham in
1689. (fn. 30) William Le Hunt started a school at
Edmonton c. 1707 which was described in 1716 as a
large popish seminary for young men to be sent to
foreign seminaries. (fn. 31) The Children's Friend Sunday
school at Chase Side, an Independent school, was in
existence by 1805, (fn. 32) a school was kept at Southgate
by the Quaker Josiah Forster before he moved to
Tottenham in 1810, and a Sunday school attached to
Tottenham and Edmonton Congregational church
was started in Fore Street in 1822. (fn. 33) By 1819 there
were three dissenting Sunday schools, teaching 67
children, and two Anglican Sunday schools, one in
Edmonton with 120 children and one at Southgate
with 130. In addition 81 boys were educated at
Latymer school, 72 girls at the girls' charity
school, and 136 children at Walker's school. The
poor were then said to be 'very desirous' of education
and increasingly able to pay for it. (fn. 34)
By 1833 13 day-schools and two day- and Sunday
schools were attended by 777 children and 10
boarding-schools by 460 children. Most of the dayschools were probably dame schools, apart from
Southgate National school for girls, which had been
founded since 1819. (fn. 35) The National Society soon
extended its activities until by 1846 there were 9
schools, attended by 827 children. The number,
with an infants' school capable of accommodating
150 children, was then deemed sufficient. (fn. 36) Other
National schools opened in 1851 and 1866 and the
Anglican monopoly was challenged only by a
school at Southgate, probably small, which was kept
by the Baptist Robert Blagden from c. 1839 until
after 1851, (fn. 37) by a British school opened in 1861, and
by a Wesleyan Sunday school in Fore Street
established in 1873. Millfield House in Silver Street
was opened by Strand union in 1849 but was for
orphans from London. (fn. 38) In 1870 there were 21
schools, 12 of them connected with the Church of
England or the National Society, 2 with the
British Society, and 4 with no religious affiliation.
They consisted of 7 public schools attended by 594
children, 7 private schools attended by 440, 6
'adventure' schools attended by 76, and one school
in the course of being supplied. (fn. 39)
A school board was formed compulsorily in
1880. (fn. 40) Three temporary board schools were
opened in 1881 and the first permanent school was
opened in 1882. By 1904 the board had established
another eight permanent schools and one temporary
school. Four Church of England schools were
opened in the same period. Under the Act of 1902
Edmonton became a Part III authority and an
education committee replaced the school board in
Edmonton U.D. In Southgate education became
the responsibility of the county council. (fn. 41)
Edmonton's schools became severely overcrowded before the First World War but the
education committee, mostly for financial reasons,
was slow to provide new ones. A Roman Catholic
elementary school was opened in 1912 and four
elementary schools were opened by Edmonton
between 1928 and 1937. Efforts were made to
implement the Hadow Report and reorganize
elementary schools into senior and junior schools.
Apart from the central school which was opened in
1919, all six secondary schools opened in Edmonton
before 1945 were founded between 1927 and 1932.
Southgate, under the county education authority,
acquired its schools earlier, although there were
hopes in 1909 that the ban on classes of more than
60 pupils might be circumvented by allowing one
teacher to take two classes. (fn. 42) One elementary
council school opened in 1908, two in 1914, and
one in 1936. Secondary schools were founded in
1910 and 1919 and five between 1927 and 1938.
All the secondary schools, except two, became
secondary modern schools after the 1944 Act. Six
new secondary modern schools were opened after
the Second World War, although some were closed
in 1960. Seven new primary schools were opened,
mostly in the early 1950s.
In 1965 both Southgate and Edmonton became
part of Enfield L.B., which in 1967 produced a
scheme for comprehensive education. After initial
opposition the scheme was put into effect and all the
secondary public schools in the area, except
Latymer Upper school which had Voluntary status,
were reorganized. Nearly all the new comprehensive
schools extended their curricula and many acquired
extra accommodation. Some schools, notably in
Southgate, took children from the ages of 11 to 18
and others were organized on the two-tier system,
with lower schools for children up to the age of
fourteen.
Elementary Schools founded before 1880.
Edmonton girls' charity school (fn. 43) was established by public
subscription in 1778. Subscribers of £1 1s. a year
became annual governors and donors of £10 10s.
became governors for life. Governors had the right
to present children to the school. Legacies and
gifts totalled £3,381 by 1818, the largest being
those of James Vere (£300 in 1780), George
Stanbridge (£1,030 in 1782), and Mrs. Worsfold
(£500 in 1817). Income was augmented by the sale
of needlework, by charity sermons, and after 1891
by government grants.
The foundation stone of a new school was laid
in 1784 on land offered by Obadiah Legrew, who in
1793 pulled down the school-house and rebuilt it
on his copyhold estate near by. The building,
extended in 1827, survives on the south side of
Church Street near the junction with Fore Street
and consists of a simple yellow-brick structure with
red-brick dressings. In the centre is a statue of a
charity girl and the legend 'A structure of Hope
founded in Faith on the basis of Charity'. Pupils,
aged between 7 and 12 or sometimes 14, were
clothed and educated, although the main purpose
was to fit them for domestic service. The National
system was introduced in 1815. Numbers, which
rose from 12 in 1778 to 30 in 1798 and 72 in 1819 (fn. 44)
and 1833, (fn. 45) fell to 60 in 1846 (fn. 46) and 43 in 1863. They
rose again to 69 in 1903 but the school, unable to
fulfil the terms of its foundation and comply with
the 1902 Act, closed in 1904. The investments of the
charity accumulated until 1913 when they were
transferred to the Girls' Special Instruction Foundation, established by a Scheme of the Board of
Education.
St. Paul's Church of England school at
Winchmore Hill (fn. 47) originated by 1813 and possibly
as early as 1785 (fn. 48) in a one-roomed weatherboarded
cottage in Church Hill, which was still there in 1972.
In 1846 the school was attended on weekdays and
Sundays by a total of 32 boys and 49 girls. It was
affiliated to the National Society and supported by
subscriptions and pence. (fn. 49) In 1859 the foundation
stone of a larger school was laid on a site next to the
church given by John Donnithorne Taylor. The
second school, usually known as Winchmore Hill
National school, could accommodate 220 boys, 150
girls, and 51 infants in 1908. (fn. 50) Attendance rose
from 84 in 1870 (fn. 51) to 220 in 1906. By 1958 the
building had become dilapidated, the children
moved to St. Paul's hall and in 1960 the foundation
stone of a third school was laid in Ringwood Way.
The new school was financed by a government
grant, the diocese of London, and the parish,
especially by an association of friends of the school.
In 1973 there were 345 infants and juniors on the
roll.
In 1810 John Walker established a boys' school on
part of his estate at the corner of Powys Lane. It was
a plain single-storey brick building with a thatched
roof. (fn. 52) As the Walker charity school it was owned
by the Walker family, from whose endowment it
received £70 in 1968. Originally run on Lancasterian
lines, to teach the children of 'the surrounding
peasantry' reading, writing, and arithmetic, (fn. 53) it had
become a Church of England school, Southgate
boys', by 1868 when it applied for a parliamentary
grant. Attendance was 140 in 1833 (fn. 54) and 65 in 1868.
A fund for rebuilding was started in 1869 but it was
not until 1887 that the school moved to Chase Road
and the Powys Lane premises closed. (fn. 55) The
numbers rose to 170 in 1906. Southgate boys'
Church of England school was reorganized as a
junior mixed school after the closure of the girls'
school in 1933 and was amalgamated with the
infants' school in 1937. As St. Andrew's school it
expanded in 1964, when new buildings were
opened, and in 1973 had 269 juniors and infants on
the roll. (fn. 56)
Edmonton National, later All Saints, school next
to the path from Church Street was erected in 1818
and conveyed to trustees in 1822. It was governed by
a committee appointed by subscribers, supported by
endowment, subscriptions, and pence, and attended
in 1846 by 96 boys and 67 girls in two classrooms. (fn. 57)
An infants' school was added in 1863 and in 1864
there were 50 boys, 24 girls, and 30 infants. In 1871
the juniors and infants were divided into separate
departments. The school was enlarged in 1888 and
attended in 1890 by 160 girls and 206 infants. (fn. 58)
It was enlarged again in 1898 and rebuilt in
1901, (fn. 59) attendance rising to 962 in 1906. There
were 215 infants and 138 juniors on the roll in
1973.
A day school in Southgate, supported by
subscriptions and pence, was attended by 70 girls
in 1833. (fn. 60) It apparently occupied a small upper
room at the opposite end of the village from the
boys' school (fn. 61) until 1836 when the Walkers of Arnos
Grove built a school for girls at Southgate Green.
An infants' school, managed by the incumbent and a
committee of 'ladies', was established in the same
building, later known as the Walker memorial hall,
in 1840. By 1846 the girls' school was affiliated to
National Society and attended by 74 children. (fn. 62)
It was extended in the early 1880s and the infants
moved to a new school in 1896. (fn. 63) There were 203
girls in 1906 but only 22 in 1933, when the school
was closed and the pupils transferred to the boys'
school in Chase Road.
St. John's school was a Sunday and day school for
girls attached to St. John's chapel in Meeting House
Lane. (fn. 64) In 1846 it consisted of one schoolroom
attended by 56 girls and was supported by subscriptions and pence. (fn. 65) It was presumably closed
when St. James's church and school superseded
St. John's. (fn. 66)
By will proved 1847 John Snell left 1 a. as the site
for a Church of England school for the poor. (fn. 67) A
school for boys, affiliated to the National Society,
opened by St. James's church in 1851. Girls' and
infants' departments were added in 1871 and there
were further enlargements in 1879, 1885, and 1893. (fn. 68)
In 1906 752 children attended the school. It was
rebuilt in 1963 (fn. 69) and had 263 children on the roll
in 1973.
An infants' school opened in Southgate with
about 100 children in 1865. (fn. 70) By 1890 there were
two infants' schools, one called Farm Road or the
Chase school, accommodating 60 children and
attended by 32, and the other at Chase Side,
accommodating 40 and attended by 30. (fn. 71) The two
schools were replaced in 1895 by Southgate Church
of England infants' school, which was built next
to the boys' school in Chase Road and financed by a
government grant, an endowment, and voluntary
contributions. It was attended by 147 children in
1906 and by 63 in 1919. In 1937 the school amalgamated with the junior mixed school, originally the
boys' school.
Lower Edmonton British school was built
adjoining the Baptist chapel in Lower Fore Street
in 1861. (fn. 72) It was receiving a parliamentary grant by
1870, when it was attended by 71 children, (fn. 73)
but numbers had dropped to 44 in 1875, the year of
closure. (fn. 74) It subsequently became a Sunday school
attached to the chapel. (fn. 75)
Tile Kiln Lane National school was founded by
deed in 1866 and regulated by a Charity Commission
Scheme of 1890. (fn. 76) Originally an infants' school, (fn. 77)
it was attended in 1878 by 66 children (fn. 78) and in 1893,
when it was described as a mixed school, by 119. (fn. 79)
It was replaced by St. Michael's National school,
Bowes Park, in 1896. (fn. 80)
Elementary Schools founded between 1880 and
1903.
Temporary board schools for boys, girls, and
infants opened in 1881. The boys occupied Elm
House, a former private school in Fore Street near
the junction with Brettenham Road, until 1882. The
girls used the Wesleyan Sunday school in Fore
Street until 1893 (fn. 81) and the infants used the mission
room in Dyson's Road.
The first permanent board school opened in
Brettenham Road in 1882 with boys from Elm
House. There were boys', girls', and infants'
departments until after the Second World War,
when the boys and girls were amalgamated as a
junior mixed school. The yellow-brick building was
enlarged in 1885, 1887, 1889, and 1892 (fn. 82) and
numbers rose from 892 in 1888 (fn. 83) to 1,235 in 1906,
thereafter dropping until 1973, when there were 301
in the junior school and 250 in the infants'.
Garfield Road board school in New Southgate
opened in 1883 with departments for boys, girls, and
infants and, after 1936, the first nursery class in
Middlesex. Numbers rose from 418 in 1888 (fn. 84) to
1,211 in 1893 (fn. 85) but fell to 539 in 1919 and 308 in
1973.
St. Aldhelm's National infants' school was built
in Windmill Road in 1883 for 240 children (fn. 86) and
attended in 1888 by 90 infants. (fn. 87) It had 133 boys in
1893 (fn. 88) and was later superseded by Silver Street
board school.
Lower Latymer school was created out of Latymer
school by a Charity Commissioners' Scheme of
1868. It was endowed and attended by fee-paying
boys aged 7 to 14. A government grant was made in
1884 (fn. 89) and a separate building was erected in 1901
in Maldon Road. It was reorganized into a Church
of England junior boys' school in 1947, granted
Aided status in 1961, and modernized in 1962. The
school was attended by 269 boys in 1906, 300 in
1919, and 209 in 1973. It closed in that year, when
the buildings passed to All Saints school. (fn. 90)
Croyland Road board school opened in 1884 for
200 boys, 100 girls, and 261 infants. The school was
enlarged in 1889 and 1891 and again, when an
upper standard school opened, in 1901. (fn. 91) From
1901 until its closure in 1921 the junior mixed
department used the original school building.
When the senior school closed in 1959 the juniors
moved into the former seniors' building and the
infants into the juniors' building. Numbers in the
four departments increased from 841 in 1888 (fn. 92) to
2,295 in 1906, declining to 1,239 in 1919. There
were 221 infants and 317 juniors on the roll in 1973.
St. Michael's National school, later St. Michaelat-Bowes Church of England primary school,
opened in Tottenhall Road in 1896 with accommodation for 377 children in mixed and infants'
departments. Attendance was 182 in 1899, (fn. 93) 198 in
1906, and 219 in 1919. The school was rebuilt in
1972 and had 280 children on the roll in 1973.
Raynham Road board school opened in 1896 for
boys, girls, and infants. The departments were
housed on different floors of a large yellow-brick
building with red dressings, typical of the architecture of the Edmonton board. A second building
erected in 1901 was used as a higher grade school
until 1937, when the infants moved there. The
girls' department of Edmonton central school was
housed at Raynham Road from 1920 until 1921. (fn. 94)
The total attendance was 1,038 in 1896, 1,743 in
1906, and 1,575 in 1919. In 1973 there were 278
children on the roll at the junior school and 260,
including some in a new nursery unit, at the infants'.
St. Peter's temporary board school opened in
Bounces Road in 1898. It was a junior mixed
school, attended in 1899 by 142 children (fn. 95) and
superseded by Eldon Road school.
Eldon Road board school opened in 1899. The
infants were housed in one building and the boys',
girls', and junior mixed departments on separate
floors in an adjoining building. Eldon Road school
was attended in 1908 by 2,313 children, of whom
537 were juniors and 625 infants. (fn. 96) The total
dropped to 1,853 in 1919 and in 1973 there were 501
on the roll at the junior school and 462, including 60
at nursery classes, on the roll at the infants'.
Silver Street board school, later Huxley primary
school, opened in 1901 on part of the former
Huxley estate. (fn. 97) The building had boys', girls', and
infants' departments on separate floors. The girls
were transferred to Hazelbury school in 1931, the
infants' school closed in 1957, (fn. 98) and the junior
boys' school closed in 1972. Total attendance at
Silver Street was 1,514 in 1906 and 1,244 in 1919.
Bowes Road board school opened in 1901 with
boys, girls, and infants on separate floors. Senior and
junior schools were created in 1937. The school was
attended by 794 boys, girls, and infants in 1906 and
by 761 in 1919. In 1973 there were 284 children on
the roll at the infants' school and 440 at the junior
school.
Houndsfield Road board school opened in 1903
with departments for boys, girls, and mixed juniors
on different floors in one building and for infants in a
second building. It was reorganized for boys, girls,
and infants in 1926 and became a junior mixed and
infants' school in 1931. A new wing was added to
the juniors' building in 1935. The schools were
attended by a total of 1,003 children in 1906 and
1,084 in 1919. There were 311 children on the roll
at the junior school in 1973 and 305 infants,
including 60 in the nursery class.
Montagu Road board school opened in 1904 with
accommodation for 300 boys, 300 girls, 300 juniors,
and 460 infants. (fn. 99) The school was attended by 737
children in 1906 and by 999 in 1919. It was reorganized for boys, girls, and infants in 1925 and
total attendance had dropped to 241 by 1927. The
infants' department was abolished and the school
became a secondary modern under the 1944 Act.
Elementary Schools founded between 1903 and 1945.
St. Edmund's Roman Catholic school opened in
Hertford Road in 1912. It received a government
grant and consisted of mixed and infants' departments until 1952, when it became a joint junior and
infants' primary school. There were extensions in
1969 and numbers rose from 273 in 1919 to 314
in 1973.
Raglan school, the first to be founded by
Edmonton's education committee, opened in Bush
Hill Park in 1928. Infants were admitted in 1929 and
a separate infants' school was built in 1934.
Extensions were later made to both junior and
infants' schools, where the total attendance was 571
in 1932. In 1973 there were 695 juniors and 485
infants on the roll.
Hazelbury council school consisted of three
parallel buildings in Haselbury Road. The infants'
school opened in the southernmost building in 1930,
the junior girls' in the central building in 1931, and
the senior girls' in the northernmost building. In
1972 the junior girls amalgamated with Huxley
junior boys to form Hazelbury junior mixed school,
in the recently vacated secondary school building.
The infants moved into the former junior school
building, leaving the southern building to house a
progress centre. In 1932 952 children attended the
three departments. In 1973 there were 506 juniors
and 369 infants on the roll.
Galliard council school opened in 1937 and
consisted of two buildings, for mixed juniors and
infants, on the east side of Galliard Road. Later
extensions to the infants' school included the
addition of a nursery. The total attendance in 1938
was 568. In 1973 there were 279 juniors and 287
infants on the roll.
Oakthorpe council school opened in 1937 in Tile
Kiln Lane, where junior mixed and infants' schools
shared one building. The two departments were
attended by 511 children in 1938. Two classrooms
were added to the junior school in 1939 and in 1973
there were 308 enrolled at the junior school and 218
at the infants'.
Hazelwood Lane school was erected in 1908 by
Middlesex C.C., the education authority for
Southgate, as a mixed and infants' school in one
department with accommodation for 600 children. (fn. 1)
A second building was erected in 1911 for the 350
juniors and infants, leaving the original building
to older children. Reorganization into junior mixed
and infants' schools took place in 1933. New buildings
were added in 1971 and the school, which had been
attended by 711 seniors, juniors, and infants in
1919, had 490 juniors and 305 infants on the roll in
1973.
Winchmore council school opened in Highfield
Road in 1914 as a mixed and infants' school. Under
reorganization in accordance with the Hadow
Report seniors occupied the first floor and juniors
and infants the ground floor of the same building
until the seniors moved to a new site in 1956.
The school was attended by 297 children in 1919.
In 1973 there were 426 juniors and 250 infants on
the roll.
Tottenhall infants' school was built in 1914 by
Middlesex C.C. next to St. Michael-at-Bowes
school but served as a hospital during the First
World War and officially opened as an infants'
school only in 1924. It was attended by 164
children in 1927 and had 240 infants on the roll in
1973.
De Bohun primary school in Green Road,
Southgate, opened in 1936 and divided, in 1937,
into junior mixed and infants' departments. From
1955 juniors occupied the first floor and infants the
ground floor of the school. In 1973 there were 324
juniors, who also had an annexe, and 289 infants,
including 60 nursery children, on the roll.
Primary Schools founded after 1945.
Cuckoo Hall
primary school opened in 1948 with junior and
infants' departments in adjoining buildings. There
were 265 juniors and 244 infants on the roll in
1973. (fn. 2)
Wilbury primary school opened in 1953 with
infants on the ground floor and juniors on the first
floor of the same building. There were 315 juniors
and 230 infants on the roll in 1973.
Walker primary school for infants and juniors
opened in Waterfall Road in 1953. There were 414
children on the roll in 1973.
Eversley primary school, the last school founded
with separate juniors' and infants' departments,
opened in Chase Road in 1954 and moved to
Chaseville Park Road in 1957. There were 379
juniors and 235 infants, housed in adjacent buildings,
on the roll in 1973.
Firs Farm primary school opened in 1954.
Additions were made in 1967 and there were 330
children on the roll in 1973.
St. Monica's Roman Catholic school opened in
Cannon Road, Southgate, in 1954. It was later
extended and had 439 children on the roll in 1973.
Fleecefield primary school opened in Brettenham
Road in 1957. There were 260 children on the roll
in 1973.
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic school
opened in the Limes Avenue, New Southgate, in
1971. There were 250 children on the roll in
1973.
Secondary and senior schools founded before 1967.
Apart from Latymer school, divided into an upper
and lower school in 1868, (fn. 3) the first source of public
secondary education was St. Barnabas parochial
school, opened in 1882 as an upper grade school
attached to the mission church at the corner of
Hertford Road and Bury Street. It accommodated
200 children and closed in 1902. (fn. 4)
Edmonton central school was founded by
Edmonton's education committee in 1919, housing
80 boys at Croyland Road board school and 80 girls
at Brettenham Road and from 1920 at Raynham
Road. In 1922 the central school became a grammar
school, called Edmonton county school, and from
1927 both boys and girls used the technical
institute in Church Street. In 1931 a new building
designed by W. T. Curtis, on a site next to Great
Cambridge Road, was opened with accommodation
for 600. It was much altered in 1962 and further
extended in 1968. (fn. 5)
A mixed selective central school, Edmonton
higher grade school, opened in 1927 in the former
infants' department at Raynham Road, which had
recently been vacated by Edmonton county school.
The school opened with 78 boys and 82 girls aged
from 11 to 15, who followed a partly commercial
and technical curriculum. In 1937 they moved to
new premises with accommodation for 400 at the
corner of Wilbury Way and Bull Lane. More
emphasis was laid on commercial and technical
subjects, numbers increased to 305 with the addition
of classes for 16-year olds, and a new teaching block
was added in 1967.
In accordance with the Hadow Report Edmonton's
education committee opened secondary departments
at the following board schools between 1927 and
1932: Brettenham Road for 270 senior girls,
Montagu Road for 270 senior boys, Eldon Road for
500 senior boys and 500 senior girls, Silver Street
for 320 senior boys, and Hazelbury for 480 senior
girls. Brettenham Road closed after the 1944 Act,
when the others became secondary modern schools.
Montagu Road closed in 1963 and the rest survived
until the reorganization of 1968. (fn. 6)
Mixed secondary modern schools were created
after the 1944 Act at Houndsfield in 1947, Cuckoo
Hall in 1949, (fn. 7) and Croyland, Raynham, and
Raglan schools by 1949. Croyland and Raglan
secondary modern schools closed in 1959 and
Rowantree opened in 1960 in Little Bury Street.
Southgate acquired secondary schools a decade
earlier than Edmonton. Broomfield House opened
in 1907 and was attended by 163 boys in 1909.
They were transferred to Southgate county school,
a mixed grammar school for 600 children, which
opened in 1910. It was housed in Fox Lane until it
moved to a new building in Sussex Way, Cockfosters, in 1960.
A second mixed grammar school was opened with
90 pupils at Tottenhall Road in 1919. It moved to
Southgate House in 1924 when it became known as
Minchenden school. There were considerable
extensions in 1930 and 1947 and from 1960 until
1967 part of the Fox Lane school was used as an
annexe. (fn. 8)
Senior mixed departments were organized by
1919 at Garfield Road, for 404 pupils until 1927-
32, and Hazelwood Lane, for 600 until 1932-6. A
secondary mixed department for 400 opened at
Winchmore Hill council school between 1932 and
1936. It became a secondary modern school after
the 1944 Act and moved to the other side of
Highfield Road in 1956.
Oakwood school in Chase Road opened with
departments for juniors and seniors in 1933. It had
accommodation for 400 senior boys and girls and
from 1956, when the junior department closed, it
was exclusively a secondary modern school.
There were major extensions in 1965-6. Arnos
Grove school in Wilmer Way opened in 1938 and
was extended in 1948, 1957, 1964, and 1966.
Comprehensive schools founded since 1967. (fn. 9)
Under the comprehensive scheme drawn up by Enfield L.B.
in 1967 Huxley county secondary school, which had
changed its name from Silver Street senior school
in 1955, was closed. Its pupils were transferred to
Edmonton higher grade school at Wilbury Way,
which became an all-age comprehensive school
to serve south Edmonton. After some controversy
the school was temporarily closed in 1968 and reopened as part of the two-tier system which was
adopted throughout the former borough of
Edmonton.
The school at Wilbury Way was renamed Weir
Hall and became an upper school, with Raynham
and Hazelbury as lower schools. In 1972, however,
all three schools were replaced by Aylward school,
whose younger pupils used a new building in
Silver Street and the vacated premises of Huxley
school while the seniors were accommodated in the
former Weir Hall premises. In 1973 Aylward school,
which had 339 children enrolled in the upper and
761 in the lower school, was linked with Brettenham, Hazelbury, Raynham, Wilbury, and St. James's
Church of England primary schools.
Edmonton school, created in 1967, consisted of a
lower school for those aged 11 to 14 in the former
Rowantree buildings, which were extended, and an
upper school for those aged 14 to 18 in the former
Edmonton county school. The two buildings
housed approximately 1,250 pupils drawn from
Galliard, Raglan, All Saints Church of England, and
Lower Latymer primary schools.
Eldon and Houndsfield secondary modern schools
reopened in 1968 as lower schools providing
comprehensive education for children aged 11 to 14
who then moved on to Mandeville (formerly
Cuckoo Hall secondary) school, which became an
upper school. In 1973 there were 350 children on the
roll at Houndsfield and 400 at Mandeville. (fn. 10) The
schools were linked to Eldon, Croyland, Cuckoo
Hall, Fleecefield, Houndsfield, and St. Edmund's
Roman Catholic primary schools.
Within the former borough of Southgate Arnos
and Winchmore secondary modern schools became
all-age comprehensive schools, with approximately
800 and 970 children on their rolls in 1973. Arnos
school, which was extended in 1967, 1969, and 1972,
was linked with Bowes, Garfield, Oakthorpe, Our
Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic, and St. Michael's
Church of England primary schools. Winchmore
was linked with Firs Farm, Winchmore, and
St. Paul's Church of England primary schools.
Southgate school was formed by the amalgamation
of Oakwood and Southgate county grammar
schools. The lower school, with 730 children aged
11 to 14 on the roll, used the former Oakwood
buildings in 1973, while the upper school, in the
county grammar school buildings in Sussex Way,
had 580 pupils. The schools were linked with
De Bohun and Eversley primary schools in Southgate and Grange Park and Hadley Wood in Enfield.
Minchenden grammar school formed the nucleus
of Minchenden comprehensive schools. The lower
school, with 480 pupils enrolled in 1973, used the
Fox Lane premises which had served as an annexe
for the grammar school. The grammar school itself
in High Street became the upper school, with 863
pupils on the roll in 1973.
Special schools.
A centre for the instruction of
deaf children was started at Bush Hill Park school in
1899 and there was a special class for the partially
blind at Montagu Road school from 1925 until
1935. (fn. 11) Halliwick, originally Bush Hill House, was
bought in 1911 by the Girls Cripples' Home and
taken over in 1926 by the Church of England
Children's Society. It was run as a special school
for cripples and in 1949 accommodated 60 girls. (fn. 12)
From 1919 until 1947 Edmonton's education
committee were joint managers with Enfield of
Durants special school. (fn. 13)
Hazelbury open air school was opened by
Edmonton B.C. in 1938 next to the other Hazelbury
schools. It was planned for 170 mainly tubercular
children but later catered for other delicate children,
especially asthmatics. It took over part of the former
Hazelbury secondary modern school in 1972 and had
139 children aged 5 to 16 on the roll in 1973.
Oaktree school, a special day school for the
educationally sub-normal, was opened in Chase
Side in 1965 and had 147 children on the roll in
1973.
Technical Education.
Middlesex C.C. was providing technical education at the Edmonton centre
in Pymmes Park House in 1908 (fn. 14) and in 1912
opened Edmonton technical institute on the site
formerly occupied by Latymer school. (fn. 15) In 1932 the
junior technical school for girls, which had opened
in Tottenham in 1914, moved to Edmonton
technical institute, where it was renamed the
Edmonton School for the Needle Trades and
accommodated girls aged over 13. (fn. 16) It closed in
1964. (fn. 17)
Southgate technical college was formed in 1962
with classes at Southgate county grammar school
in Fox Lane. The main college building in High
Street opened in 1963 and extensions were built
between 1969 and 1971 to replace church halls,
although a centre at Montagu Road school was
still being used in 1974. A total of 6,629 students
attended the college during the session of 1971-2. (fn. 18)
Private schools.
During the 19th century,
especially in its early and middle years, Edmonton
was noted for its private schools. (fn. 19) In 1833 there
were 8 small day-schools, of which two dated from
1819 and 1820 respectively, which were run at the
parents' expense and attended by a total of 117
children. There were 10 boarding-schools, three of
them opened since 1818, attended by 282 boys and
178 girls. (fn. 20)
By 1851 (fn. 21) there were 85 teachers in Edmonton,
including 13 governesses and one private tutor, and
392 children at 13 boarding-schools. The largest
boarding-school was College House in Upper Fore
Street, next to the Bell inn, which was attended by
93 boys and run by the White family from before
1840 (fn. 22) until 1887 when it moved to Eastbourne. (fn. 23) A
little farther north Edmonton House, attended by
30 boys, was a Jewish school which was opened
by H. N. Solomon c. 1840 and closed c. 1880. (fn. 24) On
the opposite side of Fore Street Elm House school
was attended by 39 boys. It belonged to Dr. John
Ireland, who advertised its 10 a. of cricket-ground
and charged 30-40 guineas a year, (fn. 25) and in 1881 was
taken over as a temporary board school. Also in
Fore Street was Priory school with 24 boys and,
just north of the junction with Silver Street, Eagle
House academy, with 19 girls. Eagle House, still a
genteel girls' school c. 1885, was pulled down in
1913. (fn. 26) There were 30 boys at Tile Kilns and 34
at Bridport Hall, a large house which had been
opened as a boarding-school before 1840. (fn. 27)
The largest boarding-schools in Southgate in
1851 were Eagle Hall and College House. Eagle
Hall in High Street had been opened in 1783 for the
sons of the local gentry by Isaac Hunt, father of
Leigh and tutor to the duke of Chandos. The
school, which was run for many years by the Rumsey
family, who extended it c. 1829, (fn. 28) had 45 boarders
in 1851 and prepared boys for the civil service, the
universities, the law, and medicine in 1872. (fn. 29) It was
still open in 1880 (fn. 30) but seems to have closed by
1890. (fn. 31) College House, which also had 45 boys in
1851, was in Chase Side and probably connected
with the neighbouring Independent chapel. (fn. 32) It had
been founded before 1828 and was still open in
1867. (fn. 33)
The other boarding-schools of 1851, Hydeside
House for boys and three girls' schools in Silver
Street, were very small and mostly short-lived,
although two of them had existed in 1840. (fn. 34) There
were also many day-schools, also short-lived and
probably small, particularly near Fore Street. (fn. 35)
Many other large houses were used as private
schools. Palmers Green academy, a boys' boardingschool, offered classics, languages, writing, arithmetic, merchants' accounts, geography, and astronomy in 1797. (fn. 36) Shortly before its demolition in
1818, the old Weir Hall was used as a boardingschool (fn. 37) and the subsequent house of that name was
a college for boys in 1914. (fn. 38) There was a girls'
boarding-school at Southgate House in 1828 and a
boys' boarding school at Manor House, Church
Street, in 1840. (fn. 39) Prospect House in Church Street,
a day-school in 1851, (fn. 40) was run in 1861 by a member
of the medical profession who offered botany,
chemistry, and some medicine as well as the more
usual subjects. (fn. 41) Edmonton grammar school, a
large building in Church (Bridport) Road near
St. James's church, existed from c. 1860 until 1878. (fn. 42)
In 1870 old Edmonton had 7 private schools,
attended by 268 boys and 172 girls, and 6 'adventure'
schools, attended by 38 boys and 38 girls. (fn. 43) By 1890,
after the building of the railway and the spread of
suburban housing, there were only 6 private
schools, although the population had quadrupled
since 1851. There were, however, 13 private schools
in the rest of the old parish, mainly in New
Southgate, Bowes Park, and Winchmore Hill, (fn. 44)
areas which retained the rural attractions and large
vacant houses previously possessed by Edmonton.
Among these schools were Belmont House, Pollocks
Grove, and Glenwood House in Winchmore Hill, (fn. 45)
Millbridge in Church Street, and Mayfield in High
Street, Southgate. Millbridge and Mayfield survived
in 1908, (fn. 46) when there were 19 private schools, of
which only four were in old Edmonton. Bowes
Park had 6 and Palmers Green four. Bush Hill
House was used as a high-class girls' boardingschool from 1904 until 1911 and Winchmore Hill
collegiate school was founded in 1906 with accommodation for 130 boys and was still open in 1949.
Avondale college, a boarding-school for 100 girls,
existed at Wade's Hill, Winchmore Hill, in 1908. (fn. 47)
Franklin House, a boys' preparatory school
which had opened in Wood Green by 1897, moved
to Frankfort House in Palmerston Road in 1901,
changed its name in 1917, extended the buildings
in 1921, and had 138 boys on the roll in 1973.
Palmers Green high school opened as a private dayschool in Green Lanes, Palmers Green, in 1905 and
moved to a new building in Hoppers Road, Winchmore Hill, in 1918. There were extensions in 1958,
1962, and 1970 and there were 280 girls on the roll
in 1973. Former pupils included the actress Flora
Robson and the poet Stevie Smith.
The nuns of St. Angela's Providence convent at
Wood Green, who had started teaching there in
1905, later transferred their primary department to a
school acquired from the Ursuline sisters in
Oakthorpe Road, Palmers Green. (fn. 48) There were 120
children on the roll in 1973, when a new Roman
Catholic comprehensive school was planned. Salcombe school opened in Avenue Road, Southgate,
in 1919. A large classroom was added in 1924, more
houses were acquired in Chase Side in 1942 and
1945, and a hall was built in 1969. The school, for
junior boys and girls, had 140 children on the roll in
1973. Keble preparatory school for boys opened in
St. John's hall, Hoppers Road, in 1929. It moved to
the Elms in Wade's Hill in 1930 and a new school
building was erected in 1935 and extended in 1949.
There were 218 boys on the roll in 1973. The
Benedictine nuns of the Regina Pacis convent in
Priory Close, Southgate, ran a junior school by
1967 (fn. 49) and had some 120 children on the roll in
1973.