A look around, summer 2008

[lonely_wolf]

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Here we are!


Main gate

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Oof!


View from inside the gate


1s


2s, 3s, 4s and the dining hall beyond

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A good look at 3s


3s south side


3s staircase window


3s from 6s


3s from 5s


3s from the square by 4s


3s from towards the rear of 4s


3s from towards the front of 4s

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School Hall


Walking towards the School Hall from 3s


By the School Hall


School Hall and Dining Hall


School Hall in the gloaming


1s to 4s from the School Hall


5s to 8s from the School Hall

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Playing field


8s and 7s from the playing field


7s and 6s from the playing field


The playing field from 6s and 7s

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Interior


Fireplace in UVI study, 4s

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Anything else before we go?


2s and 1s from the back


7s and 8s joined by new extension

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Time to say farewell


Looking out of the main gate


Nature's memorial

[CHAZ]

Some nice pics here. Excuse my ignorance but what has become of all this prime real estate?

[Alexandra Thrift]

In reply Chaz...

Offices ( the Houses ) , Residential Flats ( the school hall and kitchens, the "listed" front of the school, and new build apartments where the science and school blocks and other buildings were demolished ) and Tesco Supermarket ( the chapel and the school playing field )

Seeing these photos still gave me a spooky feeling though...even though I also visited in the summer of 2008.

Thanks for the pics Lonely_Wolf .

[Angela Woodford]

The photos are so bright and clear - they are giving me those familiar pangs of trepidation/dread/nostalgia/fear but, none the less, a feeling that I want it all put back the way it was...

I want to see Miss Morrison stomping across the Square. I want to have a surreptitious converstion through 3's Study window - quickly, for fear of Lil. I want to see the School Hall clock back in action - time for prep.

Stoppit stoppit!

[Kim2s70-77]

These pictures are wonderful - but sad!! Is it really so empty and run down?? Where are the fire escapes at the back?? (Do you remember Phillippa Lee dislocating her knee by the fire escapes??) Whatever became of Suzetta French, who struck her head on the corner of the fire escape and later lost the use of her legs (??permanently??) I remember going to visit her in Brussels after this and she would scoot herself up the stairs on her bottom. Terrible things happened and were never explained or discussed.

[Jo]

It is rather sad now, Kim. It wasn't always so - I visited in the early-mid 90s when most of the houses were in use. In fact, there was a well-known HR Recruitment Agency in 1s where I had a couple of interviews, and they were mightily amused when I told them I knew the place intimately and could tell them what all the rooms had been used for!

However, when we all went back last year for the Museum exhibition, over half of the houses were "To Let", and the whole place was looking rather run down and forlorn. All except the school hall, which is now rather a nice block of retirement flats - completely different now behind the familiar frontage!

As for the external fire escapes, I believe they have all been taken down, and there is now a second internal staircase with a door at the bottom. The cloakroom blocks also appear to have gone from each house, though I couldn't make out how they had disguised this as it looked as though they'd never been there.

I suppose it's how the last London boarders felt when that site closed down

[englishangel]

These pictures are wonderful - but sad!! Is it really so empty and run down?? Where are the fire escapes at the back?? (Do you remember Phillippa Lee dislocating her knee by the fire escapes??) Whatever became of Suzetta French, who struck her head on the corner of the fire escape and later lost the use of her legs (??permanently??) I remember going to visit her in Brussels after this and she would scoot herself up the stairs on her bottom. Terrible things happened and were never explained or discussed.

Yes. Philippa knew immediately what had happened as she had done it before.
Whoever was on playground duty (refereeing the netball match?) told her to stop being such a baby and get up, then nearly passed out when she saw Philippa's kneecap about 2" down her shin. (It may even have been me).

[chaosriddenyears]

I remember Philippa's dislocated knee, it looked awful - I thought she was really brave about it. Also Suzetta French, although I had completely forgotten that incident!

The pictures give me a weird, disorientated feeling - how can there be Hertford without the playing fields with the cricket nets at the bottom, without the path going down past the green pavillion and tennis court and leading to the dark yew hedge and the chapel and Miss Taverner at the organ?

[icomefromalanddownunder]

The pictures give me a weird, disorientated feeling - how can there be Hertford without the playing fields with the cricket nets at the bottom, without the path going down past the green pavillion and tennis court and leading to the dark yew hedge and the chapel and Miss Taverner at the organ?

It was a weird experience to be there physically, and not, I believe, only for me.

Someone described it as being like a Las Vegas version of what was, and I kept expecting the external wall to shimmer away like the back of the wardrobe, and the playing field and buildings to appear.

Mary Mc, Liz, Munch and I were lucky enough to hijack some guys that work in 6s as they returned from lunch, and were able to spend some time inside the house.

The guys work in Upper Dorm: the two lower floors being vacant. The ceiling bars are still in place, as are the stained glass windows in the stairwell, but the weird smells (bluebell and the loos?) are gone, the tartan blanket covered beds have been replaced by cheap desks, and Barnes Wallis' cubies have been demolished.

The Tuck Room and Little Study are gone, and the internal fire escape comes down into a cubicle in the far corner of the Day Room.

Caroline

[chaosriddenyears]

I don't think I will go back now.

The pictures are really clear and bring back alot of memories. They were lovely buildings.

[Jude]

It is what we call "progress" - although I see little progress in the demolishing of lots of wonderful buildings, or the lapsing into decay of the houses. In April 07 I was with others there on a tour of the flats etc behind the school Hall & Dining Room -the only thing to remain intact are the stair case, railings and the crest in the marble floor. No music room, no stage with underneath place for running about in and storing of various bits of scenery from past productions, no working clock, and no access to the bell, which I really REALLY wanted to ring......

I did have a look around inside 5's before April, having taken my now best friend (26 years!) to show her my school. We were desperate for the loo, and I managed to hold the door and go in as someone went out - the staircases inside are as well left them, although there is carpet on them now! The leaded windows are still intact and are not partially covered as they were in my last year at CH when "Fire Regulations" meant we had to have blocked off floors with fire doors - made it dreadfully long to get downstairs when the bell went! The main bathroom was a server room, the lower dorm a huge office, except it was smaller now as the end had been converted into a fire escape (it's all wood and glass, but it meant the additional land could be sold off I guess .... sigh) The housemistresses flat was a huge open area, the only thing remaining much as it was were the loos, with the frosted glass!