Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
History of old school reduced to rubble
It has taken just a few weeks to demolish a Victorian building which had become a city landmark over the past 160 years...
The speed at which the former St Mary Bredin School in Canterbury has been demolished has come as a shock to many. Especially all those motorists who have enjoyed seeing the old building as they have driven around the ring-road over the decades. Architect Guy Hollaway first revealed his plans to knock down the Victorian school in Rhodaus Town and replace it with a 146-bed student block back in 2017.
In May last year, the city council’s own planning officers had recommended the scheme be approved, saying there was little historic merit to the old school and no other viable alternative for the site. But members of the planning committee rejected the advice, saying the planned new building was “overbearing and oppressive”. However, Mr Holloway appealed and the council’s rejection of the scheme was overturned by a planning inspector in January.
And within a few weeks, the much-loved local landmark was gone, after 160 years in the city.
But the St Mary Bredin School may still have some interesting stories to tell as the ground is cleared for construction of the student flats to take place.
It is thought to have been sitting on a wealth of historical riches.
Roman burials, parts of a Norman castle and a Saxon building are among the treasures believed to be buried beneath the building.
It is thought the elevated mound which the school sits on was created during the construction of trenches for the Norman motte and bailey castle that once stood in the area.
In 2017, experts said there was a high chance of Roman quarry pits on the spot, as well as a Second World War air raid shelter and a late Saxon building.
They also said well-preserved Roman burials and remains of the Norman bailey are at the site, which is considered an area of archaeological importance.
The St Mary Bredin School opened in 1860 and welcomed pupils until it closed 80 years later. It re-opened during the 1940s as one of Canterbury’s British Restaurants, providing nourishing food during the Second World War.
The building got another new lease of life in the 1950s. The site was bought by Rootes
Ltd, which owned the adjacent garage complex, to use it as the office of its second-hand car business.
The old school stood firm over the decades as modern flat blocks were built around it to accommodate the thousands of new students coming to the city’s growing universities.
But now, it too is set to make way for the new.