Building    To 1872

Enfield school-house / station

Categories: Education, Property, Transport

the V&A (our picture source) hold in their collection part of the façade of this building (not just the photo but the bricks themselves). Alamy have a photo of the saved section of the façade erected inside a building, presumably the V&A. The section is that of the central first floor including the segmental pediment.

The V&A write: "This brick house frontage was possibly built by or for Edward Helder, a bricklayer (d. 1672), after the designs of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). It formed part of the school-house in which the poet John Keats received the greater of his education (about 1803-1810). At a later date {the plaque says 1849} the building became part of Enfield Railway Station. The station was demolished in 1872; the façade however was saved, and originally purchased for the Structural Collection of the Science Museum, then part of the South Kensington Museum."

Literary By-Paths in Old England by Henry C Shelley is quoted by Alamy, as follows:  "Cowden Clarke, the son of the master of the school, narrates that it had been built by a West India merchant in the latter end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century. It was of the better character of the domestic architecture of that period, the whole front being of the purest red brick, wrought by means of moulds into rich designs of flowers and pomegranates, with heads of cherubim over niches in the centre of the building. Because it was such an excellent example of the early Georgian facade of Keats's Schoolhouse domestic architecture, and not because it formed part of the building in which Keats was educated, the façade of this Enfield schoolhouse escaped the usual fate of demolished bricks and mortar, and may now be seen in an annex of the South Kensington Museum, London..."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Enfield school-house / station

Commemorated ati

John Keats - Enfield

The house which stood on this site was built in the late 17th century. Later ...

Read More

Keats, D'Israeli, Clarke at Enfield

According to Enfield Borough this plaque, together with the remaining plaque,...

Read More

Other Subjects

Senate House

Senate House

The first purpose-built home and administrative centre for the University of London.  Built with 19 floors to be one foot lower than St Pauls, but the tallest non-religious building in Britain.  Ap...

Building, Education

1 memorial
H.M.S. Victory VI

H.M.S. Victory VI

During WW1 Crystal Palace was used as a training establishment for the Royal Navy. It was officially known as H.M.S. Victory VI, and informally as HMS Crystal Palace. 125,000 officers and men were ...

Place, Armed Forces, Education

1 memorial
Caroline Martineau

Caroline Martineau

Born Caroline Anne, daughter of Richard Martineau, a director and partner of the Whitbread Brewery. Early on she was interested in the study of natural science, attending lectures at the Royal Ins...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Frederick Denison Maurice

Frederick Denison Maurice

John Frederick Denison Maurice was born 29 August 1805 in Normanston near Lowestoft. He was the founder of the Working Men's College and an organizer of the Christian Socialist movement. He died,...

Person, Education, Religion

1 memorial
John Harvard

John Harvard

A plaque inside the library provides the following: “John Harvard was born in Southwark in 1607 and was baptized in St Saviour’s Church, the present Southwark Cathedral.  He was the son of Robert H...

Person, Benefactor, Education, USA

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Heritage Lottery Fund

Heritage Lottery Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (rebranded 2019), formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (established 1994), distributes a share of National Lottery funding.

Group, Benefactor

27 memorials
Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan

Goon. Born as Terence Alan Milligan near Bombay, India, his father being an Irish soldier who met his wife, Florence Winifred Kettleband, in India. Both parents were amateur, would-be professional,...

Person, Cinema, Humour, TV & Radio, India

7 memorials
Neckinger Mills, Bermondsey

Neckinger Mills, Bermondsey

The Mills used to cover a large part of this area. Buildings remain at 162-164 Abbey Street. From Ideal Homes: "Bermondsey was known as a major industrial centre with particular specialisation in l...

Building, Commerce

1 memorial
Ashley Dukes

Ashley Dukes

Playwright, critic and theatre manager. Founded the Mercury Theatre. Husband of Dame Marie Rambert.

Person, Theatre

1 memorial
Henry Jerrold Randall Lane, CBE

Henry Jerrold Randall Lane, CBE

Henry Jerrold Randall Lane was born on 29 April 1898. He married Elizabeth Kathleen Coulborn (1905-1988) in the 1st quarter of 1926 in the South Manchester registration district, Lancashire. (See ...

Person, Law

1 memorial