St Elphins School was a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for the daughters of the clergy of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. It was originally based in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It moved to

Darley Dale Darley Dale, formerly Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent an ...

, a rural area near Matlock,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, in 1904, as the Warrington area had changed from open countryside and become highly industrialised. The school was founded in 1844 but had roots back to 1697. The school abruptly closed in March 2005 following financial problems.

History

The school opened on 15 March 1844 in Warrington, dedicated to Saint Elphin who according to tradition founded Warrington's parish church. In 1857 the objectives of the school were: to provide a good education on advantageous terms: (i) to orphan daughters of clergy from the

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

ries of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

; (ii) to the daughters of clergy still working in these Archdeaconries; (iii) to the daughters of clergy from any diocese. The original site in Warrington was in the country. However, by the turn of the 20th century, the area had become industrialised, and the move to the countryside in Darley Dale was made. The building occupied had previously been the Darly Dale Hydro, a

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and Physical therapy, physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and ...

health spa Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, pain ...

. Under the headship of Catherine Lucy Kennedy in 1896–1910, various additional facilities were made to the school and the criteria for pupils were extended to daughters of lay members of the Church of England. In 2003, the school fell into financial difficulties and went into administration with debts of £3 million. A proposal was put forward to develop part of the site for housing and thus raise income to save the school. This was rejected by the local council, and the school closed in 2005.Matlock Mercury 29 January 2004: ''St Elphin's to close?'', accessed 15 April 2013
/ref> In December 2010 a website was published about the school and is regularly updated with photographs, information, magazines and news items. Following the closure of the school, the site was acquired in 2006 and developed into a luxury retirement village, the main building being converted into retirement flats.

Alumni

Ruth Adam Ruth Augusta Adam, née King (14 December 1907 – 3 February 1977), was an English journalist and writer of novels, comics and non-fiction feminist literature. Early life She was born on 14 December 1907 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, daughter of ...

(1907-1977) Feminist writer *

Richmal Crompton Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a popular English writer, best known for her ''Just William (book series), Just William'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books. L ...

(1890–1969), English writer of ''

Just William ''Just William'' is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books which was the basis for ...

'' * Florence Mahoney (1929-) the first

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

n woman to obtain a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

* Mabel Joyce Maw - member of

Ferguson's Gang Ferguson's Gang, formed during a picnic at Tothill Fields in London in 1927, was an anonymous and somewhat enigmatic group that raised funds for the National Trust from 1930 to 1947. The members hid their identities behind resplendent masks, punn ...

* Lesley Nicol (1953-) - actress (famous for playing Mrs Patmore in

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

)

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Defunct schools in Derbyshire Educational institutions established in 1844 1844 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2005 2005 disestablishments in England Boarding schools in Derbyshire Defunct boarding schools in England

History

Alumni

See also

References

External links