What traces remain of Brincliffe Grammar School for Girls? Well, in Balmoral Road, the front wall still remains, running from No 23 Balmoral Road, all the way to the corner with Forest Road East and then past that for a few yards. It’s easy to see and it is virtually untouched. It’s a sandstone wall which continues round the corner and runs as far as what would have been the old boundary of the High School in, say, 1895. The wall continues for all this distance and the fact that it matches both of the two remaining Victorian photographs of the school is proof enough for me.
Here are the two pictures of Brincliffe still in existence. This is the older of the two:
And here is the one where the bike has been invented:
And here is a sample of the wall. The brighter, red one is modern, the tan coloured lower wall dates from 1870 at least. At the same time, you can see how, in modern times, it was thought wiser to make the original wall much higher.
The sandstone Brincliffe wall stretches all the way round onto Forest Road East and meets the old boundary line of the old High School (right). Here we are:
But what is this Victorian remnant? Some kind of fire hydrant?
At the side of No 23 Balmoral Road there is a pillar which clearly dates from the turn of the 20th century or earlier, and is visible in the second of the old photographs above. Here it is:
Further down, what has clearly been a gate to the school is still visible. In the controversial “pushbike-and-dog” photograph, it is down near the fir tree, but difficult to see. In the “Welcome, Munsters” postcard, it is the first gate you see in the wall and the ornate tops are clearly visible. Here it is:
As you know, I sometimes buy articles connected with the High School from ebay. A while back I produced seven blog posts called “Nottingham High School on ebay”. This link should take you to No 1 if you are interested. Sometime after #7 was published world wide, I bought this:
It shows a group of unknown children from what was called “Brincliffe School” although the presence of little boys must mean that events took place before 1907 when the Girls’ Grammar School started up. I have no idea whatsoever what is going on with all their sticks and costumes. But the picture and the words that go with it really amount to a cry which comes from well over a century ago. And that wordless cry says
“Here I am. I used to be alive like you.”
And those sentiments are present in the picture but they are also written on the back of the postcard:
It reads, as far as I can see:
“Yours Truly
Bernard Raven
as
A Farmers Boy
First boy on top row to the left”
Just have a look at him. The back row, the boy on the left. He can’t even be trusted to carry a stick, and appears to have lost his. But he is the one we can look at and we know his name. Bernard Raven. He grew up, perhaps he fell in love, perhaps he married, perhaps he had children of his own. I suspect we will never know. But with a little bit of luck, he will be read about, if only for a few seconds, in Australia, India, the USA, all over the world. I hope he was happy with his life.
John Knifton 
The cry from the past and Bernard Raven are especially fascinating.
They certainly are. As soon as I saw that the postcard was connected to Brincliffe, I had to buy it, and it was a bonus that the picture was so peculiar and that Bernard Raven had thrown his message a century forward into the future.
Hi John, very interesting article.
Bernard Raven … he is of an age that he may have become embroiled in the First World War. I hope for his sake that he wasn’t.
Keep up the good work!
Best, Simon
I fully intend to! So far a gentleman called Edward Vollans has traced a Bernard Raven who was born in Nottingham in 1902 and who died in 1970 (see his comment)
I fully intend to! I fully intend to! So far a gentleman called Edward Vollans has traced a Bernard Raven who was born in Nottingham in 1902 and who died in 1970 (see his comment)
Hello John, I have found a Bernard Raven in the BMD records that may fit, born in 1902 in Nottingham and deceased in 1970 in Nottingham, If I find any more detail I will let you know.
Ted V.
Excellent Ted! All I could find was the fact that he was not killed in either war,
I think you and I have just done the same search John! Nothing in the National Archives and nothing in the Commonwealth War Graves registry. Ted’s lead may be more fruitful …
I think it’s terrific that you go out of your way to save history, John.
Thank you for your kind words. I have always been interested in the smaller details of history and I think it’s interesting to take a look at them from time to time.
Funnily enough, I have had more response from ex-pupils of Brincliffe than I have had about any topic for a good few years. I suppose that for these now middle aged ladies, their five years in the school were a lot more significant and important than I had thought.
Terrific! It shows that we are not the only people interested in history.
Good work as usual. The school picture in costumes with sticks is most intriguing.
It certainly is! I suppose that their costumes are supposed to represent the smocks of the typical agricultural worker, but why they have those sticks, I have absolutely no idea.
Something to do with folk law is my guess. Something agricultural perhaps?
Interesting the way the new wall retains part of the old wall: the past and present as one. The photo of the children of “Brincliffe School” is quite haunting. The sticks look like flutes.
The idea that the sticks may be flutes is actually the first suggestion I’ve ever had about what they are, either from family or friends. I do dread to think, though, what noise a group of eight to ten year olds could make, if armed with a wooden flute each!
Ouch!
We often ignore or don’t even see, the odd post, wall or street scratching, thus ignoring their historical significance or what they actually represent in terms of historical context. The old blocked up gate may only be stone, but how many children, and who, walked through that gate to go on to achieve great things in their lives. That aside, could the sticks be part of an old folk dance akin to Molly dancing that took place in the Fens?
You are absolutely right. For example, nowadays we know so little about the exact details of what happened in the High School with DH Lawrence. He was there in 1898-1901 and as far as I know, the location of the three form rooms involved has never been established.
I googled Molly Dancing and I think you may have something there. This activity, carried out in East Anglia, seems to have the participants dressed in their own choice of clothing, rather than the ornate costumes of the Morris Men. There seems to be a reasonable match over agricultural smocks and such, so perhaps that is what they were up to.
It was something I knew nothing about myself until it was reintroduced to schools a few years ago by a local group. It has taken off again since then and is performed quite regularly once more round the area.
I just so love your stories, John. So many speak of how brief life is and of course the pain involved with life as well. I was fascinated by your words describing the past. Thank you.
I’m so glad that you enjoy what I write, Amy. We all need to remember just how brief our lives are, and that we need to make the very most of the wonderful world that surrounds us, and not leave it in ruins, as so many seem to think it is acceptable to do.
My Mother and my Aunt attended Brincliffe in the 1940’s. I have Mum’s school books complete with hand-drawn coloured lessons, diagrams etc. Amazing!
Just make sure thaty you never get rid of those little capsules of history! They were your mother’s life at one time!