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180 Eltham High Street, SE9 1BJ Tel & Fax: 020 8850 2040 A HISTORY PRECIS 1837 - 2000 A property has apparently stood on this site for hundreds of years. The precise date of the present building is not known. Records available show that the surviving house was owned by William Stace, but let to William Henry Goschen in 1837. His eldest son, George, came to hold a number of political offices, including First Lord of the Admiralty and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was created Viscount Goschen of Hawkhurst in 1900. However, the family had ceased to live in this house since about 1852. Having been empty for a period, by 1861 William Knightly was using it as a private school for young gentlemen. At that time, beside the family of 5, there were 48 scholars and 4 servants. In 1870, known as Torrington Lodge, it changed hands again. It was bought, with an adjoining property, by Father Cotter of Woolwich. The Sisters of Mercy opened an industrial school for girls at the Lodge and a poor school next door. The industrial school outgrew the building and moved by 1887. In 1888 the Bishop of Southwark bought the properties. Father Martin set up and superintended the Poor Law School for Catholic workhouse boys, again using the help of the Sisters of Mercy. The Poor Law School moved to Mottingham and the building, by then known as St Mary's Convent, was converted into a hospital orphanage for Catholic children. A further change was made in the mid 1920's when the buildings were converted into a 'non-provided Catholic day school' at a cost of £6,000. St Mary's School opened in April 1928 with 186 children, administered by the London County Council, who extended the school, increasing the roll to 449 by 1934. World War II saw the building requisitioned by the Civil Defense for use as the Headquarters of the Eltham Rescue Service. It was not relinquished back to the school until after the war. Since opening, the school had catered for all ages but, after the opening of St Thomas More Secondary School nearby in 1964, only primary age pupils were taken. 1984, another shortage of space, and the school moved to Glenure Road. The original house was, by now a listed building, but there was room for considerable development on the site, as a whole. A précis of an article entitled 'Before Sainsbury's came to Eltham' by John Kennett, published in Bygone Kent.