Having started my researches abou the Brincliffe Grammar School for Girls on Balmoral Road, I could not resist trying to find out more, and more, and more……..
Using my very sad collection of Kelly’s Directories of Nottingham, I was able to trace just a little bit of history, not so much for the Brincliffe School, but for the site where it would eventually be situated.
And so, in 1876, (the year of Custer’s Last Stand), on the corner of Balmoral Road and Forest Road, on the western side, was “Porter & Jones, boys’ school (Tudor House)”. In other words, the same building which would, one day in 1907, house Brincliffe Grammar School for Girls, had been, thirty years earlier, a private school run for profit, inside what had originally been a private house. The two partners in the business were Messrs Porter & Jones, and they had given the school the name of “Tudor House”.
Three years later, in 1879, the entry reveals that Tudor House had become a boarding and day school and that, of the original partnership of Porter & Jones, Mr Gregory Porter seemed to be the Head Honcho.
In 1881, the house, now apparently the property of Mr Gregory Porter alone, was now No 25 Balmoral Road. No 23 is still standing, the house immediately to the left of the main entrance to the High School staff car park. In 1885, the situation was exactly the same. Tudor House, and Gregory Porter, were still in business. Here’s Nos 19, 21 and 23 today, complete with original Victorian sandstone wall:
Alas, by 1891, Tudor House was no more, and the school became “a ladies’ school” for ladies. under its Headmistress, Miss Blanche Hall.
By 1894-1895, the Misses B. & K. Hall were running a boarding and day school at No 25. The house was now called “Brincliffe”. Why they had chosen this name, I do not know. Presumably, it refers to the “brink” or edge of a “cliff”, a reference perhaps to the small area of steeply sloping ground to the northwest of the Church Cemetery, overlooking the much flatter and much lower, Forest Recreation Ground.
Here is that “brink of a cliff”:
The slope is actually quite steep and, while not a cliff, it would have seemed a lot more precipitous 140 years ago because there were no trees then. The trees are quite young for trees, only around 80-100 years old. Here is a view inside the trees on a very familiar path down from the High School (and Brincliffe) :
The slope is certainly steep enough to sunbathe on. Here is a lovely Sunday afternoon with people in their Sunday best, relaxing around the long gone bandstand. See if you can solve “Where’s Walter?” and can you spot Robin Hood?
And here is the much lower flat area, which has always hosted any number of football/soccer pitches. In 1865, they had seen the birth of Nottingham Forest, nicknamed at the time, the “Garibaldi Reds”:
So, by 1894-1895, the Misses B. & K. Hall were running a boarding and day school at No 25. It was called “Brincliffe”. And now you know why!
By 1898-1899, “Brincliffe” had been acquired by the Misses Koppel & Hall. It was still No 25. In 1904, Miss Amy Koppel was running the boarding & day school on her own, the premises still with the same name and number.
In 1907, the City Council made it a Girls’ Grammar School, but from 1913 onwards it is listed as just “Notts County Secondary School, Miss Sybil Randall, head-mistress”
I have not been able to find any pictures of the girls in their green blazers and Green Berets, “à la John Wayne”. That crumpled, baggy 1950s blazer is still the only thing I’ve found:
One final detail.
The very first mention of a school on the Brincliffe site was “Porter & Jones, boys’ school (Tudor House)”. We know this already, but one thing I did find was that in 1862, a Miss Sarah Porter was running a “school” on distant Woodborough Road. In 1864 she was named as Miss Sophia Elizabeth Porter, presumably the same person (or perhaps sisters), still in an un-numbered location on Woodborough Road. Unfortunately I have no directories available for the period 1864-1876.
John Knifton 
Your follower gave you quite a job with her request. Mention of Custer’s last stand puts the period in fascinating perspective
Yes, Custer’s Last Stand is something everybody has heard of, so it makes a good marker that everybody will understand.
Research can be addictive, eh? I find one discovery leads to another item to look for!
Yes, research can be extremely addictive. In WW2 I always wanted to find the person who pressed the trigger that shot down the RAF plane…..and it wasn’t that difficult.
The strangest, though, was an incident in Nottingham around 1776 when, in high winds, a chimney was blown down off a roof in the middle of the city. The bricks and stone hit two men in the street a glancing blow but they both survived.
It was amazing how little time it took to identify who owned the house and its chimney, and then to identify where the two victims themselves lived.
Whoa!!
I fall down the rabbit hole frequently when I research. It’s fun, though, being transported back in time, yes? Interesting post, John.
Yes, it is., ands I’m glad you enjoyed a little trip back into time as well.
Of the things that I do, I think research back into history is one of the best, if not the best.
The early photo looks quite spooky. So interesting where research can take us in opening a window, however small, into the vibrant lives of a past generation.
Yes, we tend to forget that people a century or so before us were just as capable of having a fascinating life as we ourselves have nowadays. It’s hardly believable, especially as they had no access whatsoever to social media!
Fascinating stuff as always John. In that first picture, the school looks like something out of the Adam’s Family, I hope the head wasn’t one of them, she’s have scared the poor folk inside half to death.
Absolutely. So many Victorian houses look as if they belong to Baron Frankenstein’s property portfolio, or even worse, Dracula. It’s difficult enough going to school, let alone being taught by monsters when you got there!
This is fascinating. I was remembering many of the school stories I had read long back . Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, Lakshmi. I too used to read school stories with great pleasure.