School deed (1843)

Post date: Apr 26, 2014 10:43:58 AM

Held in Medway archives (reference DrC/Ele/227/1) is the deed under seal from Matthias Prime Lucas granting the original school site and buildings to the Dean and Chapter of Rochester for use as a school for "poor persons of the parish of Wateringbury." This was done pursuant to an 1841 Act "for affording further facilities for the conveyance & endowment of sites for schools" (better known as the School Sites Act 1841). The act limited plots to one acre and allowed reversion in situations where the original purpose of the grant no longer applied. The Wateringbury deed states there was no consideration although we believe it was part of a wider transaction involving land on Canon Heath and the Lucas' family vault in the Church.

There is as part of the documentation a plan showing the site fronting on "Red Hill Lane" (now Red Hill) with an entrance at the bottom right of the site. The frontage along Red Hill is 132 feet of iron railing. The site extends 125 feet from the road on the right bounded on this side by hedge. The back of the site is 69 feet with a wall as the boundary. The left side of the site is bounded by a 100 feet wall.

The school consists of 4 rooms: a Girls school; a Boys school; a committee room (in the centre) and a kitchen. At the back there is a small Girls Yard and separate Boys Yard. At the back of the school is the school master's house which appears to be double storied.

See also school minutes (1852-54) for problems that arose concerning this deed.