Hockerill Diocesan Training College
This is now part of Hockerill Anglo-European College and, unfortunately, not immediately visible from Stansted Road. Until its closure in 1979, it was a teacher training college for women, established in 1852.
The early part of the 19th century saw a rapid growth in the number of elementary schools and, with it, an increasing demand for trained teachers. To satisfy this need, the Church of England determined to establish a teacher training college in each diocese. At this time, Bishop’s Stortford was in the Rochester diocese and it was decided to provide their college in the town, after an initial plan for Hertford was abandoned.
A site had become available, adjacent to the newly opened All Saints Church at Hockerill and the town had good train links. The architect was Joseph Clarke, a leading ecclesiastical architect. The college was his earliest local project. Other local churches included St John the Evangelist, Bush End (1856), Holy Trinity, South Street (1858), St Mary the Virgin, Farnham (the best example!, 1859) and a large extension to the original All Saints Church (1878). He was a foot soldier of the Gothic revival, a disciple of Pugin and Ruskin, and provided a Tudor Gothic two storey design similar to a medieval Oxbridge college. It is built of red brick, with diaper patterning, with stone dressings and a slate roof.
In the centre of the western range is a Tudor-style doorway with an oriel window above and, in between, a shield with the date 1852. This has survived largely unaltered over the years. A single-storey practising school was provided at the SW corner, for infants and girls. Reserved pews were provided in All Saints Church.
The building cost £10,000. There was a government grant of £3,000 with the remaining amount raised by the diocese. The college was opened in 1852, with the rather grand name: the Rochester Diocesan Institute for the Training of School Mistresses. Student numbers increased to 60 and the training lasted 2 years. Potential students had to sit an examination and have a letter of recommendation from their local vicar. The first Chaplin and de facto principal was the Rev. John Menet, vicar of the adjacent All Saints Church and brother-in-law of the Rev. Francis Rhodes, vicar of St Michael’s Church. There was also a female Superintendent.
Postcard from around 1900
