Sad to have to say goodbye to the Old Schoolhouse in Slyfield. Dating from 1870 it was apparently once the only building in the area and over the years a community grew up around it. It was an original school building dating from the time of the 1870 Education Act which introduced national education into this country. (Planning Application: https://www2.guildford.gov.uk/publicaccess/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_GUILD_DCAPR_187402)
It did not have a local listing and so it was impossible to save it at the eleventh hour. See article in Guildford Dragon.
In 2019, Get Surrey reported that the developer, Boundstone’s Alan Robinson sought to reassure neighbours with a letter saying the new development will be “sympathetic to the existing building” and will incorporate parts of the current Victorian structure, which dates from the 1870s.
Mr Robinson wrote in his letter to residents: “Following pre-application discussions with Guildford Borough Council , Department of Planning, it is apparent that the appearance of The Old School House and its prominent location on the junction of Woking Road and Old Farm Road, make it a valued landmark.”
He went on: “We have therefore appointed architects, Michael Conoley Associates, to create a landmark building which hopefully in time will be equally valuable.
“We were delighted when we saw their initial designs which are sympathetic to the existing building.
“The roof pitches are similar/the same as the existing building and the bulk and mass are of a similar form. The existing decorative Victorian window head features will be carefully removed when the building is demolished and re-used in the new building to ensure that the character of the area is preserved.”
We cannot and should not save everything but what made the old school house unique was that it was one of the first buildings erected in the new suburb that grew up around the original Slyfield Farm. The 1916 ordnance survey map shows that Slyfield consisted of the school and a few houses. (see https://maps.nls.uk/view/103315489)
Old School House on 1896 Ordnance Survey – (https://www.old-maps.co.uk/)
