With grateful thanks to Mr. Horace Reid for all his assistance with this project,
Post World War II
The early 1950s was a time of austerity. Rationing was still in place, and familied needed to carefully manage their coupons.
- 26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ended.
- 4 February 1953: Confectionery (sweets and chocolate) rationing ended.
- September 1953: Sugar rationing ended.
- 4 July 1954: Meat and all other food rationing ended in Britain.
- July 1958 Coal rationing ends.
Despite this, in the 1950s there was an outpouring of Government expenditure in Ballynahinch, which transformed the town. There was huge spending on housing right into the 1960s: Croob Park, Windmill Gardens, the Langley estate.
It was the same for education, where all the town’s church-located primary schools were amalgamated into one state site in Croob Park. Secondary education arrived, in the form of the Intermediate School (now Ballynahinch High School) and the Technical School (now SERC).
Much of an entire drumlin was covered with new government financed development, educational and housing. Along with other similar developments, it transformed the size, appearance, and population numbers of town.
Ballynahinch PS- Opened April 1954
The 'Primary School' was one of the groups of school buildings which were built in the town in the mid-1950s, which modernised the educational estate, and brought a closure and an effective end to primary and secondary education in buildings developed over the previous century by church and other interested bodies.
The ‘Primary’ was designed in 1951 by Belfast architects Blackwood & Jury and was officially opened on 23rd April 1954.
The school occupies a large site on the slopes of Edenavady Hill, a heavily wooded part of the Montalto Estate, and site of the 1798 Battle, a fact which was celebrated for years after opening as many small artefacts from the Battle were reportedly uncovered in the grounds.
A design very much of its time, and a model which was to be repeated throughout the Education Authority’s area of influence, Croob Park consisted of a sprawling linear arrangement of one and two-storey classroom blocks, connected by single storey corridors and amenity blocks.
The buildings were all red brick built, with pitched, hipped roofs, with overhanging eaves. Classroom windows were steel frame, curtain wall type, with inwards opening ventilation hoppers at low level, and tilting openings at high level, all set within pre-cast concrete surrounds. Flat roofs were covered in asphalt.
Several extensions have been made over the years, sympathetic to the character of the original, but reflecting more modern accommodation layouts.
More to follow...