Ragged Schools

NEW RAGGED SCHOOLS CHARTER STREET MANCHESTER - These new schools which are being carried out from the designs and under the superintendence of Messrs Hayley and Dawes of Manchester, architects, will be three stories high, and will be built of red seconds bricks with blue bricks arranged in bands around the building. The outer walls will be 16 in. thick with 2 in. cavity, the outer and inner shells being bonded together with 16 in. purpose made bricks. The lower story will be 14 feet high, half being below the pavement line and half above. It contains an infants’ school-room, 30ft. by 24ft. 4in; dining room 18ft. 9 in. by 14ft. 6in.; kitchen 19ft. 3in. by 11ft. 1in.; teachers’ room 14ft. 10in. by 14ft. 9in.; two WCs for the girls and infants and two for the boys and teachers, with urinals; lavatories and cloakrooms are connected with each. Large sliding doors are arranged between the infants’ school-room and dining room. There will be two stone staircases, one leading to the room on the ground floor and the other leading to one of the front entrances.

The ground floor is arranged as one large mixed schoolroom, 56ft long by 30ft 3 in wide, which will be divided into a number of compartments for separate classes, and will also have a moveable screen arranged across the centre, one half of the room then being set aside for the boys and the other half for the girls. The upper story is arranged as a lecture-room. The height to the wall-plate will be 11ft and to the ridge 23ft 6in. The whole of the woodwork will be stained and varnished. Ventilation will be by flies built into the walls, and carried under the floors and connected with ventilating gratings. The cost of the building including the purchase of the land will be about £2,000. Mr Davison of Cheetham Hill is the contractor.

Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 23 June 1866 Page 2 (Contracts)
Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 7 July 1866 Page 6 (Contracts)
Reference    Builder 8 September 1866 Page 667