Following a successful public consultation with residents of the Walmgate area, we will now turn our focus to an unassuming area of grass that we have named School Green. The space was identified as a potential archaeological hotspot during research led by participants of our Archaeology on Prescription social prescribing project.
The space is believed to be the site of the Hope Street British School, which taught local pupils skills such as the operation of the electric telegraph between 1827 and 1890. At present, we don’t know how much of the structure survives, but an intriguing parch mark that appears during periods of drought could suggest that the foundations may still be intact.
Then, there is the small matter of the lost medieval church of St. Peter-in-the-Willows. Analysis of historic maps suggests that part of the west end of this little known church may have occupied School Green!