National School (St. Leonards)
The National School at St Leonards at Mercatoria opened in 1834 in a long building specially constructed for the purpose. The building was entered by means of a small porch or lobby at the side overlooking houses on Undercliff. From this entrance, a door on the right hand led into the Boys’ school and another at the left, gave entry to the Girls’. Initially, the school had seventy pupils.
Prior to the construction of the school buildings, education in St Leonards was provided firstly at 36 Marina, and secondly in the crypt of the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms[1].
During 1842, T. B. Brett was asked to step in as schoolmaster, alongside running his own school nearby.
The building became the St. Leonards Church of England School around seven years later in a new building at Mercatoria, the 'new' building now having the distinction of being the oldest extant school building constructed in St Leonards (Two older former school buildings survive in Hastings, those being the old Cavendish Place School in Croft Road (built in 1829) and All Saints School at 57 All Saints Street (built 1835)[2]. The building which the school previously operated from becoming a warehouse, and premises for the St. Leonards Mechanics Institute for a while.
Costing £750 to build, the school was built in 1847 by James Burton to replace an earlier nearby school in St. Clements Place built in 1834. At the time of opening it could accommodate 189 boys and girls and 182 infants. This was a massive step up from the earlier school which could only house 70 pupils. After over a century of use it was decided in the early 1950s that the school had outlived its useful purpose and was too small and poorly suited for modern times, it would take another two and a half decades though, before funding was allocated for a new school in Collinswood Drive, which opened in around 1976 and was known as St. Leonards C. of E. Primary School. When the old school closed it was the oldest school building in the borough still in use - that today is Clive Vale School in Githa Road (built 1886)[2].
In the early 1980s it was purchased by the East Sussex Islamic Association and converted into a mosque. The building, which is over 175 years old, is not listed ( though it is in a conservation area) and planning permission has been sought multiple times in the past few decades to demolish the building and construct a purpose built mosque on its site[2].
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References & Notes
- ↑ Brett Manuscript Histories Vol. 1, Chap. 9
- ↑ a b c Facebook: Historical Hastings - Leigh Kennedy (retrieved 21/01/2025)
