Milton Mount College

Last updated
Milton Mount College
Gravesend. Milton Mount College. (NBY 443409).jpg
View of the original school building on a postcard, 1903
Location
Milton Mount College
1: Gravesend, Kent
2: Cirencester, Gloucestershire
3: Crawley, West Sussex

United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°25′55″N0°22′25″E / 51.431950°N 0.373682°E / 51.431950; 0.373682
Information
Other nameMilton Mount College for Girls
Wentworth College
TypeGirls' boarding school
Religious affiliation(s) Congregational Church
Established1871
FounderRev. William Guest
Closed1960s
Head teacher Selina Hadland (1871–1889)
Ethel Mary Conder (1889–)
GenderGirls
LanguageEnglish
Affiliation Congregational Church
Website www.miltonmount.org.uk

Milton Mount College was a girls' boarding school that was established in Milton-next-Gravesend near Gravesend, Kent, southeast England. It was founded in 1871, opened to pupils in 1873, and the original building was demolished in 1972.

Contents

Establishment of the school

Milton Mount College was founded by the Rev. William Guest, Minister of the Princes Street Congregational Church as a religious school for the daughters of Congregational ministers, although other pupils were also accepted. [1] It was located on the southern side of Windmill Hill at the junction of Parrock Road and Echo Square. The architect of the school building was C.E. Robins from Southampton and it was built in the Victorian Gothic style in an "E" shape. The foundation stone was laid in 1871 and the school opened in 1873. [2]

The first headmistress of the school was Miss Selina Hadland (1838–1919), a pioneer of girls' education. [3] Milton Mount College is believed to be the first school in the UK to include domestic science in its curriculum. [1]

Later years

Hadland retired from her post in 1889 and Ethel Mary Conder succeeded her. [2] The school remained in its initial location until World War I when, after air raids started locally on 4 June 1915, it closed on 24 June 1915 and moved to Cirencester in Gloucestershire for the following term and then Worth Park near Crawley in West Sussex, where it continued until after World War II. [1] Tilgate House and Worth Park, used by Milton Mount College, were demolished in the 1950s. [4] The school merged with Bournemouth Collegiate School to become Wentworth College in the 1960s.

Gravesend building later history

When the school vacated its original building, it was initially used as a hostel for munitions workers at Vickers and later for a period as a hospital for invalided soldiers. It was used for cases of venerial disease, after being requisitioned by the Admiralty in March 1918, so the school declined to return to the location. [5]

In 1921, the building was sold for use as an orphan school, run by the Roman Catholic church. In 1926, it was officially opened by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Southwark, continuing as part of the Southwark Rescue Society. In 1940 during World War II, the school was evacuated to Ugbrooke Park, Chudleigh, Devon, the residence of Lord and Lady Clifford. During World War II, the building was used as a canteen by the Auxiliary Fire Service (later the National Fire Service) and the Women's Voluntary Service. The school returned to Milton Mount in September 1945 at the end of World War II. It was closed in 1951, after which a number of new St Mary's Children's homes and buildings were erected on Parrock Road and Glen View. After remaining empty for a period, in 1972 the original building was demolished and the site was then developed for housing. [5]

Alumnae

Milton Mount Primary School Milton Mount Primary School - geograph.org.uk - 1240506.jpg
Milton Mount Primary School

Milton Mount Primary School

The similarly named Milton Mount Primary School in Crawley was established in 1972. [6]

Archives

Information on the school is available in the archives of the West Sussex Record Office. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Sussex</span> County of England

West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley, and the county town is the city of Chichester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crawley</span> Town and borough in West Sussex, England

Crawley is a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of London, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2) and had a population of 118,493 at the time of the 2021 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Grinstead</span> Town in West Sussex, England

East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, 27 miles (43 km) south of London, 21 miles (34 km) northeast of Brighton, and 38 miles (61 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast of the county, the civil parish has an area of 2,443.45 hectares. The population at the 2011 Census was 26,383.

Worth is either a civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, or a distinct but historically related village in Crawley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Blomfield</span> English architect (1829–1899)

Sir Arthur William Blomfield was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in 1886. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Architecture.

Samuel Sanders Teulon was an English Gothic Revival architect, noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Listed buildings in Crawley</span>

As of 2011 there were 102 listed buildings and structures in the English borough of Crawley, West Sussex. Two others have subsequently gained listed status. The Borough of Crawley is based on the town of the same name, located approximately halfway between London and Brighton. Although Crawley expanded substantially after World War II when it was designated a New Town by an Act of Parliament, many older buildings remain.

George Somers Clarke (1822–1882) was an English architect. He became a RIBA Associate in March 1845 and a Fellow in June 1859. He sat on RIBA Council. In 1868 he had offices at 20 Cockspur Street, London. He was a pupil of Sir Charles Barry and worked for him on designs for the Palace of Westminster in 1849.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friary Church of St Francis and St Anthony, Crawley</span> Church in West Sussex , United Kingdom

The Friary Church of St Francis and St Anthony is a Roman Catholic church in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. The town's first permanent place of Roman Catholic worship was founded in 1861 next to a friary whose members, from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, had been invited to the area by a wealthy local family of Catholic converts. Crawley's transformation from a modest market town to a rapidly growing postwar New Town in the mid-20th century made a larger church necessary, and in the late 1950s the ecclesiastical architect Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel was commissioned to build a new church. The friary closed in 1980 and has been demolished, but the large brick church still stands in a commanding position facing the town centre. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.

Bournemouth Collegiate School is a coeducational private day and boarding school based on two sites in Poole and Bournemouth, Dorset on the southern coast of England. The prep school is located in Poole and the senior school in the Southbourne West-Boscombe East-Pokesdown South area. The school is the only coeducational independent school in the Bournemouth and Poole area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locally listed buildings in Crawley</span> Listed buildings in Crawley, England

As of November 2010, there were 59 locally listed buildings in Crawley, a town and borough in the county of West Sussex in southeast England. One of these has subsequently been demolished. A locally listed building is defined as "a building, structure or feature that, whilst not statutorily listed by the Secretary of State, the Council considers to be an important part of Crawley's heritage due to its architectural, historic or archaeological significance". Crawley Borough Council administers the selection and deselection process, defines the criteria for inclusion, and produces and updates the local list.

Thomas Francis Ford was a prolific ecclesiastical architect, Diocesan Architect for Southwark, an Ashpitel Prize winner at the Royal Institute of British Architects, founder of Thomas Ford Architects, and with his brother Ralph, who owned the largest and most complete collection of English Bibles in England, a translator in 1948 of the New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation</span> Roman Catholic diocesan shrine and parish church in West Grinstead, Horsham, West Sussex, UK

The Church of Our Lady of Consolation and St Francis is a Roman Catholic parish church and shrine in West Grinstead, in West Sussex. It was built from 1875 to 1876, with additions made to the church in 1896 and 1964. The church was designed by John A. Crawley and the 1896 additions were designed by Frederick Walters. It is situated on the corner of Steyning Road and Park Lane to the east of the A24 road. It is a Gothic Revival style church and a Grade II listed building.

Agnes Helen Harben was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Street Free Church, Eastbourne</span> Church in East Sussex , United Kingdom

South Street Free Church is a church in the centre of Eastbourne, a town and seaside resort in the English county of East Sussex. Originally Congregational, it is now aligned to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion—a small group of Evangelical churches founded by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon during the 18th-century Evangelical Revival. The church was founded in 1897 as an offshoot from an earlier Congregational chapel, and initially met in hired premises. Local architect Henry Ward designed the present church in 1903; the "characterful" and "quirky" Arts and Crafts-style building has been listed at Grade II by Historic England for its architectural and historical importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ote Hall Chapel</span> Church in East Sussex , United Kingdom

Ote Hall Chapel is a place of worship belonging to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion—a small Nonconformist Christian denomination—in the village of Wivelsfield in East Sussex, England. The Connexion was established as a small group of Evangelical churches during the 18th-century Evangelical Revival by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, and this chapel is one of the earliest: founded by the Countess herself in 1778 as a daughter church of the original chapel in Brighton, it has been in continuous use since 1780. Historic England has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.

Walter Monckton Keesey OBE (1887–1970), was an English architect, artist and etcher. Accomplished in architectural drawing, he exhibited etchings, drawings and watercolours at the Royal Academy for over 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selina Hadland</span>

Selina Hadland was a writer and a British headmistress of Milton Mount College near Gravesend.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Milton Mount College". Discover Gravesend. UK. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 Argent, Alan (May 1998). "Nursed by the Church: The Founding of the Congregational Schools" (PDF). The Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society. 6 (2): 76–97.
  3. ↑ Kaye, Elaine (23 September 2004). Hadland, Selina (1838–1919), headmistress. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52266.
  4. ↑ Bastable, Roger (1983). Crawley: A Pictorial History. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. p. 169. ISBN   0-85033-503-5.
  5. 1 2 Edwards, Lynda. "Milton Mount College, Gravesend, to be Demolished". KAR Articles. UK. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "Milton Mount Primary School". UK. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "Milton Mount College production of 'The Boy with a Cart', 1955 (MMC 1/9/7/87)". westsussexrecordofficeblog.com. UK: West Sussex Record Office. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  8. ↑ "Milton Mount College, Worth Park". The National Archives . UK: UK Government . Retrieved 14 May 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.