Old School House is
IF YOU have been eyeing up the best 2019 Christmas stocking filler on offer – the title deed parchment to one of the most amazing properties in Southport – then we are afraid you are too late, it has now been sold.
The rare opportunity to own the unique £375,000 detached Old School House, 54, Talbot Street, has gone.
Nevertheless, Sue and I (whose Lottery numbers didn’t come up) kick off our new weekly nostalgia column for you – our Class of 2019 – with an illustrated two-part lesson looking behind the history of this iconic and characteristic 19th century structure, which certainly has a colourful and charming past.
The Old School House is a fabulous landmark that is admired by most who are lucky enough to stroll passed, for it is, quite simply, one of the best looking buildings in our seaside resort – a quirky building nothing short of a historic towering fairy castle oozing gothic splendour.
But our first History Hunters feature is tinged with much sadness, as the most recent custodian of this amazing home, Jean Ireland, died a few months ago, aged 85, which is why her son, Chris, put the house on the market.
Jean had lived in the house for the past 21 years and regularly opened up her doors to take those interested on a guided tour for charity.
She also spent many, many years, delving into the history of the 155-yearold house, but more about that next week.
Old School House is an iconic, charming, and magical 19th century town centre detached residence, that oozes charm and character throughout, but it was John Fernley, a very well-known and much respected resident and benefactor, who had the house built (at a cost of £400) for the Wesleyan Methodists in 1864.
The house was part of, and to accompany, the Trinity Wesleyan Church and Trinity Hall School, and was perhaps built as a headmaster’s accommodation as well as a Sunday school, all part of the larger complex consisting of chapel, manse, hall and other structures.
The foundation stone for the Trinity Wesleyan Church was laid in May 1863 and Fernley defrayed the entire £10,000 cost.
Starkey & Cuffley, of Manchester, were the architects.
John Ruskin, the esteemed Victorian essayist, once described this church building – also referred to as the Trinity Methodist Chapel – as “the most beautiful church in Methodism”.
Well, certainly the surviving school house must be one of the most beautiful houses in Southport, or anywhere else for that matter.
Trinity Hall was a boarding college for the daughters of Wesleyan ministers it was built, at a cost of £8,000, by John Fernley who supervised the work after buying the land.
Mellor & Sutton were the architects.
Opened in November 1872, the college gave Fernley great delight and he launched The Fernley Lectures in 1868 to promote theology, later adding Methodist sermons and treatise, with annual prizes – which was still in place in 2007.
Born in Stockport on April 12, 1796, John Fernley agonised over becoming a Methodist minister until he was 21, but then went into business with his brother-in-law, Martin Swindells, as Twist Spinners in the Lancashire cotton trade – and made a great deal of money.
However, this fact tore away at his soul and he recalled in his diary that the responsibilities of wealth pressed heavily on his thinking.
More pressure was applied for him to become a preacher, but he resolved to just become a better Christian.
In 1827 he looked for a wife and set his heart on Eliza Wood, daughter of eminent Southport man, Dr James Wood, JP, a Liberal alderman/councillor who was the Mayor of Southport on no fewer than four occasions (1882, 1883, 1893 and 1894), before having the Freedom of the Borough conferred on him in 1898.
Settled and happy, Fernley then gave all his time to public service and charity and dedicated his life to spreading the principles of Wesleyan Methodism and as a result, felt a social obligation to care for all people, allowing them to grow in selfesteem, dignity and wealth.
Although John Fernley, JP, only spent just a little over a decade here, and in the latter part of his life, he was named as one of “Southport’s Greatest” by the Southport Visiter, having become one of Southport‘s most generous and much-loved benefactors.
The wealthy businessman moved to the town in 1859, after spending two winter holidays here building his Birkdale home, Clairville, in Lulworth Road, from scratch.
It was a happy home and he embraced Southport society, residing here until his death, at his Birkdale home, on January 16 1873, aged 76, with loyal servants devoted to his sick wife.
Probate shows he left £135,000, of which £42,000 went to relatives and servants, the rest was put in the hands of trustees for religious and charitable purposes.
Fernley the philanthropist, was a methodical helper, and wanted to build a chapel for the Wesleyans on the banks of the river Nile and, together with other buildings, provided the funds, which included Old School House building, the residence of the Victorian cane-wielding headmaster of the Elementary Day and Sunday School, attached to Trinity Hall.
As well as providing capital and land for the building of Methodist churches, he also presented to the town the following:
Specifically for sailors and boatmen, a magnif