Canvey Village School plans

Dated 1873

The front elevation

I recently found the plans for the village school dated 1873. A copy of the whole plan has been deposited at Canvey Library if anyone wants to have a look. I asked my son, a quantity surveyor his opinion of the plan. The following is what was he said.

What this plan shows is the footprint and elevation drawings for planning of a two storey timber framed building with a court yard and an out building, as per the majority of buildings in the 1800’s which were stone, wood or clay, which was to reduce costs, avoid the brick tax (which was in force until 1850) and bricks being an unfashionable finish. Builds towards the later part of the century were using brick built chimneys to reduce the risk of fire, as shown on this plan.

The footings are a strip foundation running around the perimeter of the building differ considerably from the raft foundations common to Canvey today being only 150-200mm thick, these may have been from pour concrete however these only became commonly used by 1890 or a compacted coal ash. Overall although detailed the plans are missing much of the detail and design a modern plan would require to pass current planning permissions with a further 2 or 3 drawings being required with further details and design information.

Most of the buildings in the village were built in the same period and in a similar style as we can see from many of the old photos. Some of those buildings still stand today mainly at the top of Havens road and also St Katherine’s Church although they have changed over the years.