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| School History | ||||
| Central School in Darley Abbey - Floor Plans | ||||
| Two valiant Old Boys have so far attempted to reconstruct the interior
of Darley Mansion. Here Patrick Morley offers up his sketches of the
three floors and invites comments and corrections. Roger Finney has also
started a descriptive overview. He and I are still in conversation over
the details and the task is incomplete. But you're welcome to see where
we've got to. Please feel free to pitch in! Floors plans. These are fairly large initial sketches, so each link will open up a separate page. Patrick comments: "I have finished my rough (very rough) plans of the school. The printing comes out faint but I hope it is clear enough. The scale is all wrong of course but I hope it gives a rough idea of what I recall. Roger Finney's recollections matched up pretty well with mine though none of the various objects he recalls on the stairs or over the entrance hall fireplace were there in my day, or not that I remember." Click the images below to see Patrick's sketches
On May 17th, 2005, Patrick wrote: "It strikes me that someone in Derby might do some digging around in the city archives. Somewhere there must be an interior plan of the house as it was -- and perhaps a plan of how it was after any alterations made for the conversion to a school, though actually they don't seemed to have changed things all that much. I have Glover's History of Derbyshire of I think 1823 but although it goes into some detail about Darley Abbey there is no plan or even a picture of the mansion." |
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Descriptive overview under discussion (Black type by Roger. Blue comments by Michael.) It was good to see the photograph of the front entrance to the school. It brings back many memories. I have been making a journey on foot, down The Drive, having been dropped off by the Spec (4d from the Cav). If you entered the school by the front door I recall that the door always used to click, and there was a large metal “door mat” one of those things with narrow strips of metal on which you wiped your feet, and which almost made a musical note. The floor was mosaic. The Entrance Hall had a large fireplace opposite. Straight ahead was Room 1 and to the right the entrance to the classrooms belonging to 2a and 2x. These doubled as the Assembly Hall To the left were the stairs to the upper school and immediately to the left was the entrance to Form 4a. The Art Room outside accessed by the Orangery was Joe Hawksby’s domain and the abode of form 4x. The stairs were wide and creaked as they were ascended. Either side of the fireplace were built in display cabinets in which were the skull of a lion and a lioness. There was also a scorpion in a glass phial. What else was there? Halfway up the stairs was a bow and arrow of African origin. There was once a break-in and the arrow was shot somewhere or other. (In the Boss’ door!!) To the right of the stairs was a passage which ran through to the bogs, passing first on the right Bosses Office, a storeroom, the staircase down to the cellars and up to the staff common room. I think that these stairs were banned to pupils and it was always an illicit pleasure to use them. Carrying on down the passage was the kitchen (on the left) the Secretary’s room, on the right (a nice lady named Mrs Goodwin (Yes!) I remember). To the left were the double doors out to the yard and to the right the Bogs and straight ahead was the Spud Room which you went up a couple of steps to and which had a storage cellar underneath accessible through a trapdoor. The main staircase climbed up to the right. At the top of the stairs was on the left the staff room and next to it the room for 1x. (I recall at the top of the stairs you had to run left into a small corridor off which was the staff room, and which doubled back to the small, illicit, staircase.) I also think that the upper rooms, divided by screen doors were for forms 3x (left) and 3a. I figure this out because I believe our own form rooms were as follows: 1X, top of stairs, left. Agreed. 2x, off main hall, the stage end of the double room. 3X, directly over 2x; 4x – in the Art Room with Topliss as form master. 5x – somewhere up top in the area you describe but which is very hazy for me. Straight ahead up a small flight of stairs were forms 4x (on the left) and 4a on the right. (I don’t think so – see above) These form rooms were also separated by a folding screen as they were directly above form 2x and 2a. The woodwork at the entrance to these form rooms was painted light blue. Turning to the right crossing over the head of the stairs was form 1a on the right, the stairs to the second floor and next to that the Library. (I cannot visualize these stairs! I wish I could) Mounting the stairs to the top floor, less grand in scale and probably the servants quarters when the house was occupied by the Evans’s who owned the Mill in the village. The room on the right was the 6th form room bit the other rooms were more randomly used. The second on the right was the Props Room for the School Play materials and assorted cricket kits. The other three rooms were used by the fifth and sixth years when they were free. At the left of the passage was the entrance to the stairs which ran down to the cellars via the other two floors. There were other rooms in use. The so called Metal Workshop, The Refectory (so called by Boss) which was also called The Dining Hut by Joe Hawksby. When I started at Central School there was a bandstand in the park, which was the haunt of the Smoker’s Union, lads who liked a fag at break times. The Bandstand did not last long and was dismantled in ... ... to be continued. Hey - all join in! - Ed.
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