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5. The former School Buildings

AFTER the closure of Douai School in 1999, the community were faced with the question of what to do with the former school buildings. They were advertised nationally, and much to our surprise no responses came from any educational body. All those who responded to the advertisements were property developers who were interested in developing the buildings for residential purposes. After interviewing those shortlisted, we chose Bewley Homes plc whom we considered put forward what appeared to be the most suitable scheme.

The oldest of the former school buildings are Grade 2 listed, so that what can be done to them is strictly controlled. The scheme proposed by Bewley Homes plc was designed by architect Robert Adam and it has received approval from the West Berkshire planning authorities. In the words of Bewley’s design statement these buildings “will be converted into 33 individual flats of varying size and character. The apartments will have all the internal spaces required for a modern flat combined with interior form that retains, restores and takes full advantage of the existing fabric,including double height living spaces in the former Monastic and School Refectories”.

The illustration, above right,drawn by Fr Aloysius Bloor OSB in 1920, shows the 'Haydock' wing designed by W.A. Walters and built in 1888, seen from St Mary's church yard. The drawing, below left, shows another view of the 'Haydock' wing from the quadrangle.

All the listed buildings, namely everything from the tower entrance at the road junction as far as the ‘Ark’, including the ‘senior wing’, but excluding St Mary’s Church which will remain the Parish Church, will be converted. However the remaining buildings will be demolished, namely. the theatre block, the various temporary and prefabricated buildings, the Ditcham block and the two houses, St Maur’s and St Gregory’s. On their ‘footprint’ new residential accommodation will be erected. The design approach for this is “to form enclosed courtyards or greens surrounded by two or three storey buildings of a similar language but modest variety. This reflects the character of the court, cloister and ancillary buildings often associated with English colleges and schools. Open amenity areas are provided within the site and on an adjoining reclaimed and landscaped meadow (the Ditcham site and field), and the proposal is consistant with current planning guidelines for brown field site use, density and open space”.

The area presently occupied by St Maur’s and St Gregory’s will be used to build “affordable housing”. “The housing will be staggered so as to accommodate sensitively the exisiting contours and maintain the distinctive landscape of the area”.

A condition to the planning permission is the redesign of the road layout outside the main entrance of the housing complex. The existing layout has been a hazard for a long time, and the new layout will be a safety feature which will benefit all road users. It will entail encroaching a little on the Park.

The Park itself is being leased to Woolhampton Parish Council for use as a playing field by various sports clubs and schools in the neighbouthood.

It will be good to see the former school buildings occupied again after they have been empty for four years. The new development is an exciting project that has presented the architect with quite a challenge. It will bring a living community of people to the neighbouthood, which will provide increased scope for our outreach and pastoral work. ‡

A sketch by Fr Aloysius Bloor OSB
drawn in 1920 showing on the right the 1916 building with
the school dormitory over and refectory below
before ther 1936 wing was built.
The top floor of the building on the left,
half obscured by the tree was added in 1907, among the first
building works undertaken
after the arrival of the monks in Woolhampton.
The shed in front of the building on the right
originally housed the pumps
used to draw water from our own well.
In later years it was used for
maintenance equipment and was
familiarly known as 'Joe's shed'
after our long serving maintenance
man, William Reddin, who was known as 'Joe'.

 

 

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Index

Editorial

The Role of the Monastery in Today's Society A Layman's Viewby Sir David Goodall

100 Years at Woolhampton as seen from the pages of The Douai Magazine

The New Monastery Buildings by Oliver Holt OSB

A Low God is No God Reflections on latent atheism by Peter Bowe OSB

Community List

Community Notes

Benedictine Spirituality

From The Douai Magazine 100 years ago