Hawarden Ordination Test School,
In 1925, the rector of Hawarden decided that the rectory building was too big for his needs and moved to another house in the town. The sponsor of the living, Henry Neville Gladstone of Hawarden Castle, the son of William Ewart Gladstone, donated the building to the Church of England to be used as an Ordination Test School together with £3000 for the necessary alterations. Taylor and Young were appointed as the architects and in 1927 and 1930 they added extensions to either end of the old building.
The Test School was an institution set up after the First World War by the Rev Tubby Clayton, the founder of the Toc H movement, to prepare men leaving the armed forces for ordination. It had previously been based in Knutsford and moved into the new premises in 1927. It eventually closed in 1955 and the building was acquired by Flintshire County Council to be used as a record office and library headquarters. The record office is still based there and Taylor and Young’s plans are held in the archives. [Richard Fletcher]
NEW HOME FOR THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TEST SCHOOL - The first step has been taken towards the removal of the Church of England Test School from Knutsford to its new home at Hawarden, where Mr N. Gladstone has given the old rectory to the Council of the School. Tenders have now been accepted for the construction of a new wing, and the builders will shortly begin to convert the old rectory into a home for forty students. The present school - the only institution of its kind in England - has grown out of the Ordination Test School which was set up after the war for the preliminary training and testing of ex-service candidates. In 1922 when this temporary function had been fulfilled. the school was closed by the Church. and has since been maintained unofficially. It is now a school for ordination candidates of all classes who are handicapped through lack of good general education and the money necessary to reach such a standard as would enable them to enter a university or theological college. The school's existence was made possible by the gift of a house at Knutsford; the pressure upon its accommodation made the addition of temporary premises necessary; and the need for still further expansion has now been met, by Mr Gladstone's gift. At the old rectory the Test School will be within a stone's throw of the Church of St. Deiniol, where there is a chapel in which the daily services will be held; quite close, too, is St. Deiniol's library and hostel, the memorial to the great Prime Minister.
Although Mr H N Gladstone's gift includes £3,000 in cash. as much again will be needed to adapt the rectory to its new purpose and to provide the financial assistance which many of the students require. Since 1922 the school has received no financial support from the Church Assembly, and has been entirely dependent upon voluntary contributions. It has been decided to try to raise the £3,000 of which the school stands in need by securing thirty individual or corporate donors who will undertake to give £100 each, and of whom a record will be kept as the school's foundation benefactors. Though technically an unofficial institution, the school is approved and supported by the leaders of the Church as is shown by the following letter which the Archbishop Of Canterbury has addressed to Mr. Gladstone: "I should like to tell you how strongly I feel that the effort which is now being made at Knutsford is of the right sort, and that its establishment under such conditions as have been adumbrated in what you have said would be fraught the utmost hope. I can encourage the plan with all my heart." The Archbishop of Wales has also expressed his pleasure at the decision to transfer the school to his diocese, and offers a cordial welcome to all connected with the institution. [Manchester Guardian 17 March 926 page 8]
Reference Flintshire Record Office
Reference Manchester Guardian 17 March 926 page 8
Reference Cheshire Observer 29 January 1927 page 7 – opening. Isaac Taylor handed key to Archbishop.
