The building at the corner of High Street and Church Lane was built in 1850 to provide accommodation for the newly re-founded Grammar School. The original school had been founded in 1570 and had moved to this site in the early 1700’s. The school rooms were on an upper floor with the ground floor being open and occupied by market stalls. The fortunes of the school had declined in the later 18th century and the building was demolished in 1770.
The recently arrived vicar of St Michael’s Church, the Rev Francis Rhodes, was keen to re-establish the Grammar School, to provide a good education following the teachings of the Church of England. The building was designed by the Bishop’s Stortford based architect George Pritchett, then at the start of his career, and he provided his services “gratis”.
It is a brick building, in a Tudor style, reflecting the style of the original building (rather than the later Market Hall-style building). The number of pupils increased rapidly and it soon outgrew its premises. A new schoolhouse was opened on Hadham Road in 1861, on the site of what is now Springfield Court. It remained here until closure in 1931.
The school building became the parish hall and was used as such until the early 1980’s when it was redeveloped as business and residential premises.
