News from Hall Place

New watercolours on display in the Victorian gallery

Two paintings have been added to the displays in our Victorian Gallery. They are both local Bexley views and add to the exhibition themes of education and innovation.

The first shows Bexley National School, built on Bourne Road in 1834. It was designed by the Greenwich based architect P. R. Browne, who also painted the watercolour. The school was built with funding from the National Society. Their aim was to provide schooling for the poor and working classes.

Previously children had been taught in a small room at St Mary’s Church and later, from 1809, at a school founded by the vicar for the poorest children of the parish. With over 100 pupils it was based in a shed and old stable at the Poorhouse on the High Street.

The second painting shows a view of Erith Station painted in around 1870 from Walnut Tree House. The station had been built just 20 years earlier as part of the new Victorian railway network. It opened to the public in 1849 with staggered platforms alongside a red brick building.

Walnut Tree House was owned by the Parish family and named after the avenue of Walnut Trees which once led to the manor house. It was demolished in the early 1900s to make way for the town hall, Carnegie library, tram shed, public baths and Walnut Tree Road.

The beautiful watercolour now on display at Hall Place was donated to the Bexley Collection by Mrs Margaret Penton, a descendant of the Parish family

Forties Festival - everyone dressed up and we had a hard time choosing our competition winners!