British Schools Museum

[2] It includes a monitorial schoolroom based on the educational theories of Joseph Lancaster for 300 boys, which opened in 1837, and a rare galleried classroom, dating from 1853.

After starting a school in London, Lancaster travelled to promote his system, including a visit to Hitchin.

This school continued on the site until 1969, when it closed, but the buildings were taken over by North Hertfordshire College as the Queen Street Activities Centre.

Jill Grey, a local educational historian, opened a small museum in one of the Edwardian classrooms.

In July 1990 North Herts College left the site and Hertfordshire County Council put the buildings up for sale.

The trust, mainly through the efforts of volunteers, has restored the schoolrooms to reflect their original condition, and work continues to improve them.

The British Schools Museum in Hitchin.
The school buildings of 1853 (left), 1837 (centre) and 1904 (right).
The 1857 school building with the houses for the Master and Mistress to the left.