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Chichester High School for Girls
What: Girls' High School
Where: Chichester, West Sussex
Built: Main Buildings 1909; Caretaker's Lodge 1911; N. and W. Wings 1933, Labs 1937, Boiler House 1955-8.
Architect: Main Building and Caretaker's Lodge by Haydn Parke Roberts; N and W Wings and Labs by C.G. Stillman; Boiler House by Frederick Reginald Steele
Abandoned: 2007
Listed: No.
Visited: 2009-11
Last Known Condition: Derelict, partially demolished.
Page Updated: April 2011

On September 22nd 2009, the Chichester High School for Girls celebrated its Centenary amid much fanfare. Amidst the celebrations there were more than a few allusions to the school's beginnings in the old buildings in Stockbridge, but little mention of their eventual fate. This, however is hardly surprising: now derelict, vandalised and plagued by drug users, they have become a blight on the city.
The hopelessness of the buildings today could not be further from the optimism and philanthropic aspirations of the founders. The school opened amid ceremony in 1909 in purpose-built premises designed by County Education Architect Haydn Parke Roberts. By all accounts it was ahead of its time, providing facilities better than many independent schools and tuition in subjects such as sciences, mathematics and geography at a time when secondary education was not compulsory and young women's education was generally neglected.
Yet initially CHSG was dubbed "Chichester's White Elephant" by those who thought it unfeasible in terms of projected attendance. Indeed, the school had originally been designed for 200, a number clearly not met when it opened with just 20 girls on the roll, a staff of only four (Misses Lane, Glancey, Miles and Richards) and two visiting masters (Mr Catt for drawing and Mr Crowe for singing).
Fortunately it did not take long for interest in the school's progress to grow and for the doubters to be proven wrong: secondary education was made compulsory in 1918 and numbers actually exceeded 200 by 1920. To cope with growing numbers of pupils and expanding curriculum, extensions were built to the North and West and a new dining hall and laboratory wing were built to the east in the 1930s.
During the Second World War, the school took on many evacuees from Portsmouth and London; according to former pupils, fabric rationing meant that the green school blazers varied in shade from sage to khaki!
In the 1970s the school merged with Chichester Lancastrian School for Girls, (founded 1812) and was given Comprehensive status. By the 1990s the school was exceeding capacity and, seeking ways to expand, it was proposed that the school move to a site next to the Chichester High School for Boys on Kingsham Road. Construction began c.1999 and was completed in 2002 after which the school moved fully to the new site. In the same year, the county council sold part of the site to a developer who demolished the south and west wings and built a multi-million pound leisure complex in their place. The remaining buildings were used by the Council as a Professional Centre for teacher training and conferences until October 2007 but have since become derelict and vandalised.

L-R: [1]. Sign; [2]. Modern extension; [3]. Back of buildings; [4].Doorway; [5]. Lightswitch in demolished corridor; [6]. Quadrangle

L-R: [1]. Unusual shopping list from 2008; [2]. Mm, slightly yellowed bunny ears; [3]. Fireplace; [4]. Makeshift bed; [5]. Souvenir ware; [6]. Table and broken window;
[7]. I see a red room and I want to paint it black.

L-R: [1]. Blacked out kitchen window; [2]. Broken window; [3]. Bathroom sink; [4]. Toilet; [5]. Quad; [6]. Entrance;
[7]. Handy Map - the black hatched area has been demolished

L-R: [1]. School of Rock; [2]. Washroom; [3]. Smashed sinks; [4]. Toilet cubicle; [5]. Main corridor; [6]. Music Room

L-R: [1]. Lower Corridor [2]. Upstairs corridor and locked door; [3]. Quad; [4]. Lab 1; [5]. Graffiti inside drawer; [6]. Display cabinets.

The labs were built in 1937 to the design of County Architect C.G. Stillman. Reader Paul Smith, a laboratory technician at another local school has the following to say about them:
“It looks very much as if many of the fittings were the original 1937 ones. There were 2 prep rooms, 1 each for each lab. Each lab had a demonstration bench and a platform behind it (I assume where the teacher sat!) There were more sinks in the chemistry lab than the few that were in the botany & biology lab. The lattter did have a Wardian Case - I think this is used to dry botanical specimens. Interestingly, next to the stairs on the W side on the wing, was a cupboard-store for science and a glasshouse on the same first floor! Never come across that before. The school had a dark room which was accessed from the chemistry prep room.”

“The lab with the blue furniture is clearly a chemistry lab. The heavy cast iron radiators along the side are a very unusual arrangement - I've not come across that anywhere else that I have visited in the past. Because of the fitted benches and shelving along the sides of the room, there was obviously nowhere else for them to go. There are what look like small fume cupboards at either end, built into the wall and benching.
The tap heads have all been removed - one of our labs at the school I work at has identical taps. You can see the electrical connectors on the benches for the low voltage power supplies [...] The unit on the wall with the dials is known as a Legg machine (Legg being the maker). This would have supplied power to the benches at whatever low voltage was required. Our senior techinician says that at her previous school [...] she had to go round and turn the dials to zero in every lab at the end of the day!
The labs are actually very well designed and great care was clearly taken to provide as much storage space and for display [as possible]. When newly opened, the school must have been very proud of their new labs.”

L-R: [1-2]. Blackboard; [3]. Student's work; [4]. Lab; [5]. Breakage costs; [6]. Prep room

L-R: [1]. Science corridor; [2]. The Electromagnetic Spectrum; [3]. Careers in science; [4-5]. Labs; [6]. School rules

L-R: [1-2]. Legg Machine - low-voltage power supply; [3]. 1987 newspaper; [4-5]. Student work; [6]. Radioactive material store (locked); [7]. Lab.

L-R: [1]. Window; [2]. Coursework; [3-4]. Another lab; [5]. Timetable; [6]. Mobile phone rules.

In 2008 the 2½ acre site was offered for sale at £6,000,000 with planning permission for 99 flats. The sale coincided with the economic recession, however and the site was still on the council's books in November 2009 despite a reduced asking price.
The school buildings have been extensively used by the city's homeless, drug users and other down and outs as a squat. Hypodermic syringes, budget food wrappers and cutouts from pornographic magazines and call-girl leaflets littered the doorways and a makeshift bed and various posessions had been set up in the caretaker's flat. Subsequent to my visit the buildings were secured to prevent access.

EPILOGUE

Planning permission was granted in June 2010 to build a student village on the site of the school. As of April 2011, all buildings with the exception of the original school had been demolished. It is expected that the 1909 building will be converted into flats. Reader Paul Smith kindly sent me the following four photos of the demolition (copyright retained). The last two pictures were taken by myself some days later).


SOURCES

Smith, Paul, 03-04 2011, Personal comments via e-mail

Waters, Ellen "Re. Freedom of Information request - Details of Council owned scrub land and derelict land" 6 November 2009 [http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/20511/response/54365/attach/3/2009%2011%2004%20what%20do%20they%20know.doc]

Unknown Author, "Former girls' school site up for sale in Chichester" Chichester Observer, 14 August 2008 [http://www.chichester.co.uk/chichester/Former-girls39-school-site-up.4390160.jp]

Unknown Author, "City-centre land won't make £6m - but we won't know how much" Chichester Observer, 12 December 2008 [http://www.chichester.co.uk/chichester/Citycentre-land-won39t-make-6m.4788390.jp]

Unknown Author, "CHSG Centenary" September 2009 [http://www.chichesterhighschoolforgirls.co.uk/CHSG_Centenary-i-93.html]

Original plans in the collection of West Sussex Record Office, numbers WDC/AR16/35/1-10 & Add Mss 11085


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