Update on the School Site - Martin Hugall
06 October 2025
If you are in Saffron Walden it is well worth visiting Chase New Homes’ sales office accessible from the car park off Mount Pleasant Road. It is open each day from 10am to 5pm, except Wednesdays and Sundays. They have various artist’s impressions (see above) and an impressive scale model of the development of the main site (see below - first and second images).The main building is being converted into 52 flats and most of the outbuildings have been demolished and replaced with blocks of flats or houses, most of which have now been completed, and many are also now occupied. So, it is increasingly possible to explore parts of the site from both Mount Pleasant Road and its southern boundary. As you will see the tennis courts (now hard surface) will be retained as will the Multi Use Games Area and the Biology pond which Form 5 scholars helped to build with me in 1975 after their O’Level exams! However, as you may already know, the swimming pool will be converted into a Community Hall for the town. The Water Tower was sold several years before the school closed and has limited uses apart from housing mobile masts, as it is a listed building and accommodation within is not possible without an external fire escape! A pity as it does have a beautiful internal cast iron spiral staircase. The developers are now concentrating on the main building as you can see from the scaffolding and I am assured that the whole roof will be renewed, as will all the windows with tasteful wooden frames. Some notable Old Scholars are being immortalised in a few of the road names including Bawden Crescent and Erskine Place. (The OSA were not consulted).Plans are available for the main building and these are available to download at the bottom of this article. A bit of detective work will be needed to work out how the original layout has changed.As you will see in this section of the ground floor plans for the central part of the main building, that part of the dining hall will be retained as a communal area for residents and I am informed that the main entrance will be staffed by a concierge in the reception area. I have recently learned that the clock on the south side of the main building will be removed and located in a glass case in the communal area. They also plan to frame some of the pupils’ artwork they found in the art room and hang these in the communal area. They did say earlier on that they would reinstate the analemmatic sundial in the front lawn, donated by the OSA on the school’s tercentenary in 2002, and the Croydon gate but there is no evidence of this to date.