Looking at Buildings

, printed from the Looking at Buildings website on Friday 29th March 2024

Police and Fire Station

Goulden Street [1] the character of the area is illustrated by the disused Police and Fire Station by J.G. Lynde. A forceful, even monumental, design of c.1870. A high windowless façade has a giant blind arcadeGlossary Term [2] topped by a pedimentGlossary Term [3], all in stone. The rest is brick. Within the courtyard a tall channelled chimney. Mounted police were stationed here and the complex included stables. Lynde is better known for police stations in a workmanlike GothicGlossary Term [4], but something more akin to a stronghold was required in this notoriously lawless area. Its structure even survived a serious fire in November 2002.

In neighbouring ANGEL MEADOW, one of the most notable survivals is in Sharp Street [5]: the former Ragged School, founded in 1853. It was built in 1869, an early and remarkably intact example of a purpose-built ragged school which is said to retain a little-altered interior with a ground floor partition which divided the reception class of wild street children from those who had been subdued!

Last updated: Monday, 26th January 2009