Record Details
| NHER Number: | 33475 |
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| Type of record: | Designed Landscape |
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| Name: | Grammar School Grounds |
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Summary
A former ropewalk is depicted on historic maps and appears to have remained in use until the mid 19th century. In 1872 Great Yarmouth Grammar School was built at its eastern end and the remaining area was planted with trees. In 1912 the Art School (NHER 51586) was constructed within the site. During World War Two the latter was used as the town's Civil Defence Report Centre. A large World War Two air raid shelter, probably one of the town's public shelters, is visible to its east as an earthwork on 1940s aerial photographs. Since the end of the war the shelter has been levelled and the Grammar School demolished to make way for a new housing development.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 5284 0736 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG50NW |
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| Parish: | GREAT YARMOUTH, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK |
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Full description
THE FORMER ART COLLEGE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED UNDER THIS NUMBER IS NOW RECORDER UNDER NHER 51586.
Grammar School Grounds.
(S1) lists as grade two star (regional importance).
Important as preserving the line of a former ropewalk converted to park after 1855 when construction of Nelson Road made it unusable. Grammar School erected at east end 1872. Planted in 1886 to 1887 at same time as St Georges Park (NHER 33473). School of Art (NHER 51582) built in centre in 1912 despite protests at loss of trees. Many trees lost in 1987; Grammar School replaced by housing in late 20th century, Art School derelict. Now mostly grass with new tree planting and serpentine walks.
See (S1) for details.
E. Rose (NLA), 27 February 1998.
August 2005. Norfolk NMP.
The central grid reference of the site has been corrected from TG 5285 0738 to TG 5286 0737.
A World War Two air raid shelter is visible as an earthwork within the former rope walk, described above, on aerial photographs (S2), centred at TG 5290 0737. It seems to have lain within what had become a municipal park or garden by this date (S3). The size of the shelter and its location within a public open space suggest that it was a communal public shelter; its proximity to Great Yarmouth’s Civil Defence Report Centre, located at the Art School (S4), may be coincidence. The Grammar School itself was provided with its own shelters (NHER 27539).
The shelter is partially obscured by trees and shadow on the consulted aerial photographs but it appears to have consisted of a roughly rectilinear earthwork mound, which presumably covered a more solid, semi sunken substructure. Entrances are visible on its east and west sides. Three small structures visible on the roof of the shelter probably mark the location of ventilation shafts. More recent aerial photographs indicate that since the end of the war the shelter has been levelled.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 2 August 2005.
Monument Types
- FACTORY (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- GARDEN (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- OPEN ROPEWALK (16th Century to 19th Century - 1540 AD to 1855 AD?)
- PUBLIC PARK (19th Century to 21st Century - 1855 AD? to 2100 AD)
- GRAMMAR SCHOOL (19th Century to Late 20th Century - 1872 AD to 2000 AD?)
- AIR RAID SHELTER (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| --- | Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1999. TG 5207ACS. |
| <S1> | Unpublished Document: Taigel, A. 1997. Norfolk Gardens Trust: Town Gardens Survey - Volume One. Norfolk Gardens Trust. |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/726 5161-2 26-AUG-1945 (NMR). |
| <S3> | Map: Ordnance Survey. 1902-7. Ordnance Survey second edition 25" (1902-7) Sheet LXXVIII. 3. |
| <S4> | Publication: Tooke, C. and Scarles, D.. 1989. Great Yarmouth at War. p 8. |
Related records - none
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