MY STREET CHALLENGE - EUCLID STREET

I thought that Sunday might be a good day to take photographs in Euclid Street, as it wouldn’t be quite as busy as in the week - that might have been the case fifty years ago, but sadly not today when Sunday seems to be no different from any other day.  The street is named after Euclid, the famous Greek mathematician.

Having been to church, Mr. HCB and I set off and managed to find a parking space actually in the street.  There are some quite large buildings in this street;  the Swindon Borough Council Civic Offices, built in 1938, is not a very imposing building - at the top left of the collage - but the gardens, in the bottom right, are beautiful and well kept.  I shall be back again next Saturday in the Register Office, which is part of the Civic Offices, to photograph a family wedding, so hope the gardens look as good as they did today in the sunshine.

We wandered through to what is known as Clarence House, now used by the town’s Social Services, but which was originally Clarence Street School, built in about 1895 at the west end of Euclid Street at its junction with Clarence Street and is now a Grade II Listed Building.  In the middle photograph you can see Mr. HCB gazing up at his old school.  It is a lovely red brick building with stone dressings, plain roof tiles and elaborate gables.  Although there are two entrances for Boys in Euclid Street, Mr. HCB said they weren’t used as such during his time at the school, as far as he could remember anyway.

The third red brick building is Euclid Street School, which is now known as The Old School and again, is a Grade II Listed Building and is mainly apartments.  This school was built in 1897 and faces the Civic Offices.  When it was first opened, apparently it was a training centre for pupil teachers employed in the town, but in 1904 it became a Higher Elementary School.  In 1919 it changed again and became a secondary school, amalgamating with The College in 1943 to become Headlands Secondary School, which later became Headlands Grammar School when it moved to a new site at Cricklade Road/Headlands Grove in 1952, and where I actually attended from 1956 to 1961.

Apparently, in 1964 it reverted to its original use for training teachers, this time mature students wanting to transfer to teaching from other careers.

While I was taking photographs of The Old School, a man came out of the main doors and asked if I was all right - I guess I looked a bit suspicious and it transpired he thought I was taking photographs of his first floor flat!  When I explained to Shaun (because of course, I asked his name!) about Blip, he said it was good to hear about someone’s hobby and he invited us in to the hallway, where there were a couple of plaques relating to the Higher Elementary School.  One gave a list of those who died in the First World War and the second commemorated Mr. A.J. Dicks, the first Headmaster of Euclid Secondary School from 1919 to 1930.  

Mr. HCB was intrigued by the stairs, as it was plain to see the indentations on both sides where hundreds of pupils had obviously gone up and down over the years, which Shaun said he hadn't even noticed. Another fact I didn’t know was that Mr. HCB took his 11+ Exam in this very school!

The laws of nature are but
     the mathematical thoughts
          of God.
Euclid - the Father of Geometry
365-275 B.C.