Belchamp Walter School House

Some background on the building that is now the Belchamp Walter Village Hall

The Belchamp Walter Village hall is owned by the Village of Belchamp Walter. The Parish Council holds the freehold and the building is registered at the land registry to the Parish Council.

The Parish Council, and effectively the village, own the Village Hall there is an intention of a lease between the Parish Council and the Village Hall management committee (BWVHC) which details the resposibilites of the committee with respect to the hall. There is no such lease in place.

This page is concerned with the history of the Village Hall building and not the current legal situation between the PC and the BWVHC.

The BWVHC is responsible for the day-to-day running of the hall, the maintenance and repair of the building. It does this by organising events at the hall. It is also responsible for the application of grants for which is needs a lease with the owners of the hall, the Parish Council.

George Washinton Brownlow was on the school board for the New School House, 1871.

Louisa Anne Raymond (nee Fisher) - Mrs St. Clare Raymond laid the foundation stone in 1871 see 1891 census

The fate of the Village Hall website - Wordpress as a solution for a community webite - Belchamp Walter History (on Village Hall website) - Custodial Trustee - BWVHC

March 2026 - It looks like the VHC have actually found some historical information about the school house. There are a couple of things here that make me a little suspicious, the fact that there is probably nobody who is going to at all interested (apart from me) and it is coinciding with the VHC quest to find documentation relating to the lease and the trusteeship of the building.

The information pretty much in line with what I had researched before. It does not add anything new or give any clues to what the intentions of the owners of the building were or are now. The intervening years with the operation of the school, the closing of the school, the fact that most of the buildings in the village were sold off at auction and who took "ownership" after the school was closed. In my mind it is far from clear who actually owned the building and therefore who was the entity to decide its fate.

Re-reading Samuel Philip's speech made at the buildings centenary, the building (and the land) were conveyed to The Minster and Church Wardens, for the time being, and their successors on the 25th September 1871. The Solicitor was George B. Andrews of Sudbury.

I believe that the Parish Minister at that time was Oliver Raymond Rev., Rector of Middleton, Vicar of Belchamp-cum-Bulmer. This Oliver Raymond was John Mayne's uncle (G2 on the Freer tree).

The minister, Oliver Raymond of Middleton, was married to Anne Andrews. It is not known if she was the daughter of Rev. Charles Andrews of Flempton.

The page on the history of the village hall was on the village hall website on the 13th March but was not on the 14th.

Belchamp Walter School House - (Trust deed 1871)

The "new" School House is now the Belchamp Walter Village Hall. The building was opened as Belchamp Walter School in 1872.

The new school house was built to replace the Old School House which ran out of space in 1870.

The school house was closed in 1963 and is now used as the Belchamp Walter Village hall.

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Village Hall/School House

The description on the Historic England website:

Village hall, former primary school, dated 1872 on stone plaque on north end.

Of red brick with stone window dressings and black brick diapering string bands and relieving arches.

Roofs are of Welsh slate with steep pitch and ornamental tile cresting. The north and south ends have terracotta cornices.
Those facing east are gabled with small hips at the head and large bargeboards with splayed ends and quatrefoil piercings.

Of 'T' plan shape, but with single storey gabled porches on east, west and north ends.

The east entrance side has 2 dormer-like structures over the major windows. These have a varied number of tall lancet openings pierced through stonework. Internally the main hall has an exposed arch braced rafter roof.

John Mayne St. Clere Raymond's wife laid the foundation stone of the School House in 1872 - This was after he had repurhased the Manorial Lands (for its farm income) in 1863.

1872

The date on the plaque on the gable of the village hall says 1871 the commissioning, building and operation of the "new" School House was 1871 and 1872.

According to Samuel Philip's speech ---- (Samuel Philip was known as Philip in the copy I have scanned) the "paper" was given to Walter Deal, at the Centenrey Supper in 1972 (29th July).

Oliver Raymond was the vicar in 1872, the uncle of J. M. S. R. who is listed as the vicar of St. Mary's until 1889. Oliver Raymond was the rector of Middleton and vicar of Belchamp-cum-Bulmer.

Samuel Millbank Raymond and Oliver Raymond were brothers and sons of Samuel Raymond (d. 1825).
J. M. S. Raymond was Samuel Millbank's son. John. Mayne. St. Clare Raymond took over the "residency" at St. Mary's after the opening of the school.

The foundation stone was laid by Mrs. J. M. S. Raymond (1871-1872) and the mallet and trowel are held currenty at Belchamp Hall.

At the time of opening (1872) the school management committee was:

Oliver Raymond ^{(G2 - there is an error on the Freer tree and should be G3)} - the Vicar (In this case it was Oliver Raymond, Rev., Rector of Middleton, Vicar of Belchamp-cum-Bulmer, * 1794, + 1889, Md. 1817, Anne Andrewes, + 1863, d. of Rev. Charles Andrewes, Rector of Flempton, Suffolk).
Vicar's Warden - Robert Firmin
People's Warden - Mr Charles Adams
Mr William Wright, Mr Henry Mann, Mr George Washington Brownlow,

The estate was "re-purchased" in 1865 by J. M. S. Raymond from Thomas Ruggles. It is not clear whether the school house was part of this estate. Most of the village suurounding the village pond at the cross-roads was owned by the Ruggles family during the years 1741 to 1865.

Repairs on the Village Hall

As the building is of Victorian heritage it requires on-going maintenance. The windows are in desperate need of renovation. Much of the wooded framing is rotting and the whole village hall needs painting.

1921 Auction

It is also not clear whether the school house was part of this auction. It is likely that it was not and the ownership of the School House was retained by the Raymond Estate.

Village Hall Lease

At the time of writing this there is no formal lease between the Parish Council (the owners) and the Village Hall Committee (the Charity).

At the time of the school closing there was a lease created between the Village Hall committee and the Raymond family. It was then that there was an agreement that the BWVHC would be Management trustees and the PC would "hold" the lease. Since that time the freehold has been transferred to the Parish Council who are the legal owners of the Village Hall.

The questions are, did the school building revert to the original owners of the land or did the Church of England still hold the title? The Trust Deed Title was transferred to the Reverend Oliver Raymond and the church wardens in 1871. Oliver Raymond did not reside at Belchamp Hall and he was the uncle of the person who signed the lease with the Village Hall. Oliver was the minister of Belchamp Walter church in 1871 and I think he lived in Bulmer or Middleton.

The text from the speech given at the buildings centential celebrations by Philip Raymond, the father of Michael Raymond who signed the lease with the Parish Council says:

The conveyance deed, which we have, is dated 25th September 1871 and "Enroled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery the 5th day of October in the year of Our Lord 1871"

Thus the Site was Conveyed by the Rev. John Mayne St. Clere Raymond to "The Minister and Church Wardens, for the time being, and their Successors".

"Signed Sealed and Delivered by the Rev.J.M.St.Clere Raymond, Oliver Raymond, Robert Firmin and Chartles Adams, in the presence of George W. Andrews - Solicitor, Sudbury"

It should be noted that the speech is not a legal document and the usage of the phrase "For the time being" is not clear.

A copy of the speech can be found on this website.

Nepotism

This is somewhat understandable in some of the arrangements with respect to the building of the New School house. That being said it is interesting to highlight how this manifests itself here.

The architect was Firmin - the People Warden was Firmin

The Solicitor was Andrews - the father-in-law of Oliver Raymond was Andrews

The Education Act

My page on the Rev'd Oliver Raymond, the Trust Deed holder in 1871, the Education Act of 1870 came to light. The building of the school appears to have been a consequence of that Act.

Belchamp Walter School House - (Trust deed 1871)

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