St Martin's, Moors Bank, St Martin's School

Building Notes

Basil Spence & Partners designed St Martin's School at St Martins, Shropshire in 1957, in conjunction with the County Architect, C H Simmons. The predominantly single storey building is situated high on the foothills of the Welsh mountains, its horizontal form contrasting with the tall waste tip of the Gobowen coalmine. The school was designed in two phases, the first of which included everything except for a metalwork room and a gymnasium. Provision was made for a future extension in the form of a similar two-storey block forming a courtyard. Barbara Jones, who had also designed murals for the 'Britain Can Make It' exhibition and for the 'Festival of Britain', executed a mural in the entrance hall of the school.

Archive Details and Summary

The manuscript material in the Sir Basil Spence Archive shows that the school was built in an area where mining subsidence was probable, a factor that governed the planning and type of construction. To counteract any settlement the school was built on 15 discontinuous reinforced rafts, allowing the various sections to settle independently. Furthermore, the light steel frame, the prefabricated timber infill panels, and the prefabricated exterior panels were all chosen for their insubstantial weight and relative flexibility which reduced the effects that movement would have on the building.

The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds one manuscript batch for this project. This contains project notes along with a colour schedule and list of suppliers. There are 11 photographs that depict various views of the building's exterior and classrooms and one drawing showing details of a staircase in the school assembly hall.

This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.