NHER 2934 (Monument record) - Site of County School, later Watts Naval Training School

County School 1871-4, later Watts Naval Training School.
Architects, Giles and Gough. The main building had two towers, one with taller stair turret, and gabled windows in Norman Shaw style. Picture in (S1).
Totally demolished in the 1960s - the site is now a pig farm.
E. Rose (NAU), 23 November 1978.

Became the Naval Training School in 1891.
For background to foundation of County School by Rev. Brerton, vicar of Little Massingham, see (S2).
E. Rose (NAU), 5 June 1985.

See (S3).

November 2002.
Concrete water tower demolished.
See (S4).
E. Rose (NLA), 18 November 2002.

The school was attacked with machine guns by a German aircraft on 2 August 1942, after Great Ryburgh maltings had been bombed.
E. Rose (NLA), 12 March 2007.

According to (S5) and (S6) the Watts Naval Training School was virtually a self-contained village. It had its own gym, laundry, drill hall, chapel, cemetery, games room, playing field, sanatorium, dormitories, water tower, staff houses and even a cinema. This source notes that the school, founded in 1873 and opened in 1874, had closed by 1895 as families found the fees too high. When the building came up for sale, Dr Thomas Barnado was keen to purchase it, but did not have the money to do so. However, Edward Watts, a wealthy ship-owner agreed to buy and pay for the conversion of the school, which re-opened as a naval training college in 1903. The pupils were selected from various Barnados homes and foster homes around the country, and up to 300 could be accommodated at any one time. Many of the boys and staff transferred to the Parkstone Nautical Training School in Dorset in 1949. The building continued as a Barnados home until 1953. The East Anglian Regional Hospital Board intended to buy the buildings and convert them into a mental hospital, but local residents protested, and the building was finally purchased by a London demolition company in 1955. The main school building was demolished, along with many of the other buildings on the site, and the remainder have since been converted to residential use.
See (S5) and (S6) for further details.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 2 January 2008.

See NHER 2935 for St Luke's chapel, originally constructed as part of this complex of buildings.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 2 January 2008.

February 2008. Norfolk NMP.
Aerial photographs of this site in 1946 would suggest that this school was commandeered for military use during the war, see NHER 50913 for details.
S. Massey (NMP), 28 February 2008.