Flint-faced with stone dressings, set back from the road behind a red brick wall.
No CA
LLHA0116
Flint-faced with stone dressings, set back from the road behind a red brick wall. Clay tile roof set parallel to road, incorporating a number of gables. Ecclesiastical in style with pointed arch windows; the windows themselves have been replaced. Hannah Brackenbury bought land and donated money to construct a new school in 1871. The school was specifically for the children ‘of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes of the Parish of Portslade.’ Brackenbury inherited much of her family’s wealth. She became a benefactor for educational causes, including a donation of at least £20,000 in the 1860s to Balliol College for new buildings and scholarships in law and medicine. The reason for choosing Balliol College was due to an assumed ancestral link to the Balliol family. It is unclear why Portslade was also chosen as the family did not live in the village, although the family vault is located within St Nicolas’ Church. Brackenbury lived in Brunswick Square, having moved with her brother from Manchester to Hove in 1844. The school was designed by Edmund Evan Scott, who had also designed St Andrew’s Church (with Suter in 1864) and Portslade Cemetery chapels. All of Scott’s buildings in Portslade are flint-faced in a Victorian Gothic style; in contrast to his work at St Bartholomew’s, Brighton. The school was built by John King (brother to Alice King, Brackenbury’s housekeeper) and could accommodate 250 boys and girls. It was officially opened on Saturday 25th May 1872. In 1881 a separate department was created for infants, while in September 1883 the girls' department moved into a newly constructed classroom. From 1884 the schools were called St Nicholas Portslade and Hangleton Boys' and Girls' Schools. More expansion occurred in 1894. Source: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/38a39766-5599-4e9c-8541-7b989ddfe746, http://portsladehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/st-nicolas-school-portslade-history.html
ii. A good quality example of a purpose-built 19th century school building, built in a distinctive flint-faced Gothic style
iv. An example of work by local notable architect Edmund Evan Scott, who would go on to design St Bartholomew’s Church in Brighton
v. The building has aesthetic interest due to its varied skyline and use of flint-facing
i. Association with Hannah Brackenbury, a prominent local benefactor who is buried in the Brackenbury vault within St Nicolas’s Church
ii. The former use illustrates the social development of Brighton and Hove, reflecting the rapid expansion of Hove and Portslade in the late 19th century and the late 19th drive towards better general education. It also forms a group with other school buildings.
ii. Not within a conservation area, the building contributes positively to the streetscene, particularly due to its varied roofline. Its raised position makes it particularly prominent on the street
ii. One of few surviving purpose-built benefactor schools of this period
i. The building survives largely intact
ii. The building remains in use as a school
2015
