Gilford Primary School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Symmetrical detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick school, dated 1933. Rectangular on plan facing south with central two-storey entrance porch and several brown brick extensions to the rear, built c.1960. Located on an elevated urban site on the west side of Castle Hill with parking and playgrounds to the rear and large landscaped garden to the front.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles and two redbrick chimneystacks. Raised gables to both side elevations and a curvilinear parapet wall to both projecting end bays. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on exposed rafter feet with cast-iron box hoppers and downpipes. Redbrick walls laid in English garden wall bond with moulded masonry plinth course. Square-headed window openings with painted flush masonry block-and-start surrounds, masonry sills and replacement uPVC windows.

Front south elevation is nine windows wide with a full-height shallow breakfront to either end and a central full-height Tudorbethan crenellated projecting entrance porch. The entrance porch is no longer in use and has a decorative masonry oval roundel with hood moulding, coat of arms and raised digits below '1933'. Below the first floor window is a masonry plaque stating: 'CRAIGAVON / PUBLIC ELEMENTARY / & TECHNICAL SCHOOLS'. The porch is framed by diagonal buttresses with off-setts.

Gabled west side elevation having four shallow buttresses surmounted by off-setts. Single-storey decorative side entrance porch with crenellated parapet, banded masonry and raised lettering stating: 'GIRLS'. Porch has a square-headed recessed door opening with double-leaf flat-panelled timber doors.

The rear elevation is abutted by a flat-roofed two-storey redbrick corridor wing and a series of flat-roofed brown brick accretions added c.1960, including a four-bay double-height brick gym hall with full-height uPVC windows.

Gabled east side elevation having four shallow buttresses surmounted by off-setts. Single-storey decorative side entrance porch with crenellated parapet, banded masonry and square-headed recessed door opening with double-leaf flat-panelled timber doors.

Setting

Located on an elevated urban site on the west side of Castle Hill with parking and playgrounds to the rear and large landscaped garden to the front. Two mid to late twentieth-century detached structures to the northeast also form part of the school complex. Large site enclosed by rubblestone walling having stacked coping with a splayed entrance to the southeast of the front gardens having stone piers with cast capstones and metal gates and railings. To the northeast of the site is a further splayed entrance with metal gates and railings on pebbledash rendered piers and walls providing the principal current entrance to the car park and reception.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Redbrick
Windows UPVC

Historical information

Gilford Primary School, formerly known as ‘Craigavon Public Elementary and Technical Schools’ was opened in 1933 as part of a planned phase of school building that was intended to modernise an outdated education infrastructure. (Collins)

The school is not shown on historic county series OS maps and first appears on the OS map edition dating from the 1960s/70s. When first built the school was roughly E-shaped on plan but has since been extended to the rear.

With the establishment of the Dunbar and McMaster spinning mill in the late 1830s, Gilford’s population began to expand dramatically. Hugh Dunbar, the mill’s proprietor, is remembered as an exceptionally generous man who was prompted to build a mill school for his workers. In this he was no doubt also acting in the spirit of paternalism expected from Victorian industrialists. The school opened in 1846 and with the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian schools, and later, in 1880, St John’s Catholic school, formed the largely denominational system that was usual throughout Ireland. (Logan; Cairns) The Mill School was superseded by the present building ‘Craigavon School’ which was opened in 1933 on land sold by the mill proprietors for the purpose, and formerly part of the Dunbarton House grounds. (Logan)

The school was opened on 4th September 1933 by the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Craigavon and was built to designs by Castor J Love. The contractors were Thomas McKee and Sons Ltd. Love was architect to the County Down Education Committee from 1927 to 1934, but was later dismissed on suspicion of fraud. He designed, or made alterations or additions to, at least 35 schools in County Down during his tenure and was the counterpart in County Down to Reginald Sharman Wilshere who designed numerous modern primary schools for the Belfast Education Committee. Both architects brought a fresh approach to school design and were part of education reforms which sought to sweep away the older, largely Victorian, education infrastructure. By the 1920s the older buildings were seen as unhealthy and cramped and no longer suited to the needs and expectations of an expanding population with increased standards of living. New school design focussed on air, light and sunshine including innovatory features such as a single class-room for each class, a large assembly hall and dedicated rooms for science, cookery and art. Much attention was given to ventilation which was achieved by cross-ventilation and open air corridors and great care was taken with lighting arrangements. (Irish Builder; www.dia.ie; Collins)

The school is first entered into valuation records in 1934 at a valuation of £97 for buildings and £5 for the surrounding 3 acre plot. It is the property in fee of Down County Regional Education Committee.

At the time of the First General Revaluation of the 1930s the valuation rose to £225, and the valuer commented that the school was a ‘good modern building’ with accommodation for 250 pupils. The building cost between £10,000 and £11,000 and the site had been purchased for £270 in 1932. The accommodation comprised 8 classrooms, 3 stores, 2 cloakrooms with basins, a teacher’s common room and a principal’s room. The school had a mains water supply, electric light and was centrally heated. A map and dimensions are given showing a symmetrical building with basement and classrooms arranged in a linear fashion with a corridor to the rear. Teacher’s toilets adjoin the rear of the building while boys and girls toilets were separately located at the western and eastern edges of the playground. (Valuation Records)

The school had not been in use for long before preparations began to be put in place against an expected German attack in the lead up to the outbreak of World War Two. As early as 1936/7 the NI government began to run training courses in anti-air raid and gas precautions. The current building is remembered locally as the venue for classes on the fitting and cleaning of gas masks and was also the scene of long queues for replacement filters as protection from new types of gas became necessary. (Higgins)

The building remains in use as a school and is now known as Gilford Primary School.

References:

Primary Sources

1. OS Map 201- 1960s/70s
2. PRONI VAL/12/F/4/2/6 - Annual Revisions
3. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/M/5 – First General Revaluation 1933-57

Secondary Sources

1. Cairns, A “The Church and Community of St John the Evangelist Gilford, Sesquicentennial 1850-2000” Lurgan: Inglewood Press, 2002
2. Collins, P “Conservation Statement Glenwood and Strandtown Schools- Reginald Sharman Wilshere Belfast Schools’ Architect” Alastair Coey Architects
3. Higgins, Beryl "Gilford During The Second World War"
4. Logan, R A “A Window on the Past, A History of Gilford County Down” Banbridge Chronicle, (n.d.)
5. www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Symmetrical detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick school, dated 1933. Rectangular on plan facing south with central two-storey entrance porch and several brown brick accretions to the rear, built c.1960. Still in its intended use, this school displays a symmetrical front elevation with subtle Tudorbethan motifs. The loss of its original fenestration and obscured rear elevation, as well as significant changes to the interior, have compromised the building's historic character and it does not meet the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural or historic interest.