17/10/2026
🏫🔎 STOCKBROOK PAST & PRESENT – THE HISTORY OF BEMROSE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, DERBY 🔎🏫
📍 UTTOXETER NEW ROAD, DERBY – THE STORY BEHIND THE BUILDING
Today, we're taking a closer look at one of Derby's most recognisable educational buildings: Bemrose Grammar School.
But behind those distinctive towers, impressive brickwork and familiar grounds lies a fascinating story involving Derby's expanding education system, a prominent local family, a celebrated architect, an old house and even a possible Roman road running beneath the site! 🏛️
So, let's go back and explore the beginning, the land and the building itself.
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📚 THE BEGINNING – WHY WAS BEMROSE BUILT?
The story begins long before the familiar building on Uttoxeter New Road opened its doors.
On 12 September 1902, the Derby Municipal Secondary School for Boys opened in Abbey Street. Its origins lay in Derby's developing municipal education system and the growing demand for secondary education.
By the 1920s, Derby's County Borough Council wanted to increase the number of grammar-school places available for boys beyond those provided by Derby School.
The answer was a new, purpose-built school on a much larger site.
The institution would become known as Bemrose Grammar School, named in recognition of the Bemrose family's contribution to Derby.
The new building represented a major investment in the city's educational future, providing accommodation designed specifically for a growing school.
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🏡 THE LAND – WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE THE SCHOOL?
Before the school buildings transformed the site, this part of Derby had a very different appearance.
Historical accounts associate the land with Elm Tree House, formerly the home of the Abell family.
The site lay in the Rowditch area, alongside what is now Uttoxeter New Road. Rather than the large school complex familiar to generations of pupils, the landscape once included a house and its surrounding land.
The site was acquired in December 1923 and was used for games before construction of the new school began.
Imagine the difference!
A landscape associated with a private house and its grounds would become the home of a substantial new educational institution as Derby continued to expand.
There is still more to investigate about Elm Tree House, including exactly when it was built, the extent of its grounds and the lives of the Abell family who lived there.
But perhaps the most surprising part of this story lies much further back in time…
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🏛️ A ROMAN ROAD BENEATH BEMROSE?
One of the most intriguing details recorded in the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record concerns Ryknield Street, the Roman road.
The suggested route is believed to have run straight up the school drive, beneath the school buildings and across the playing fields towards Rowditch, aligning with Constable Lane and Owler's Lane.
If this alignment is correct, the ground occupied by generations of Bemrose pupils may lie along a route that dates back to Roman Britain!
It is a remarkable possibility, connecting a twentieth-century school with a much older landscape.
⚠️ Historical note: This is a proposed route recorded in the historic environment documentation. It should not be taken as proof that a Roman road has been excavated and confirmed beneath the school buildings.
Nevertheless, it gives us another fascinating avenue to explore when researching the history of this part of Derby.
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🏗️ THE BUILDING – A LANDMARK OF 1920s DERBY
The school we recognise today was designed in the 1920s by Alexander MacPherson (1847–1935), an important local architect who practised in Derby.
The building was commissioned for Alderman Sir Henry Bemrose, and the new school was officially opened on 11 July 1930 by Sir Charles Trevelyan, President of the Board of Education.
The reported construction cost was £71,746, a considerable investment in education at the time.
MacPherson is said to have designed Bemrose as his final commission before retirement.
But what makes this building so distinctive?
🔴 THE BRICKWORK AND STONE DRESSINGS
Bemrose is a large, well-proportioned building constructed principally of brick, with stone dressings highlighting its architectural features.
Its tall elevations give it an imposing presence, reflecting the importance attached to education and civic buildings during this period.
🔴 THE TWO DISTINCTIVE TOWERS
Among the most recognisable features are the two towers, topped by copper-sheathed ogiform cupolas.
An ogiform cupola has a distinctive curved, pointed dome profile. These unusual roof structures help give Bemrose its individual character and distinguish it from many other school buildings of the era.
🔴 THE LARGE WINDOWS
The original school makes generous use of glazing across its facades.
These substantial windows allow natural light into the building, while the simple, slate-covered hipped roofs provide a restrained contrast to the more elaborate towers.
🔴 THE ORIGINAL WALLS AND GATES
The school was designed with landscaped grounds, original boundary walls and cast-iron gates.
These features are an important part of its historic setting. The building was never intended to stand alone: its relationship with the grounds, entrance and surrounding landscape formed part of the overall design.
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🔺 THE GREEK LETTER PI – A CLEVER ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Here is one of the most fascinating architectural details of all!
According to the heritage description, MacPherson designed the school so that its layout could be read from above as the Greek letter Pi (Π).
The arrangement of the original wings created this distinctive plan.
It is an unusual concept for a school building and demonstrates that Bemrose was designed with more than basic classroom accommodation in mind.
The layout was part of a deliberate architectural vision, combining practical educational requirements with a carefully considered overall form.
Just imagine seeing the original school from the air when it first opened in 1930, before later buildings altered parts of the design!
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🏫 WHAT ABOUT THE LATER EXTENSIONS?
The school has changed over the decades, as buildings must adapt to changing educational needs.
However, the architectural assessment specifically criticises the modern infill extension positioned between the north-west wings of the original building.
The assessment describes this addition as particularly poorly designed and considers it detrimental to the original building's appearance.
That is an architectural judgement rather than a universally held view, but it highlights an important distinction when studying Bemrose today.
The historic building designed by MacPherson and the additions introduced later should be understood as separate phases in the school's development.
The original towers, brickwork, windows, slate roofs, gates and overall Pi-shaped plan remain central to understanding the architect's vision.
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📅 BEMROSE THROUGH THE YEARS
🔹 1902: Derby Municipal Secondary School for Boys opens in Abbey Street.
🔹 1923: The Uttoxeter Road site is acquired in December.
🔹 1920s: Plans are developed for a new grammar school to increase the number of places available for boys in Derby.
🔹 1928: Construction of the new school gets underway.
🔹 11 July 1930: The new school is officially opened by Sir Charles Trevelyan and becomes Bemrose Grammar School.
🔹 1975: The grammar school merges with Rykneld Boys' Secondary Modern School to form a comprehensive school, with girls admitted.
🔹 1990: A design and technology block opens.
🔹 2014–15: The school develops its primary provision, with new accommodation and a nursery, becoming part of the all-through educational institution we recognise today.
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🎖️ A CONNECTION TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR
There is another important chapter in the school's history.
A memorial commemorates 68 former pupils who died during the First World War.
The memorial originated with the earlier Derby Municipal Secondary School for Boys and was transferred to the new premises.
It provides a direct link between the school's earliest generations and the building that opened in 1930.
Behind the history of any school are thousands of individual lives, friendships, families and stories. This memorial reminds us that Bemrose's heritage is about much more than bricks and mortar.
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🏛️ A BUILDING WORTH REMEMBERING
Bemrose School is recognised on Derby City Council's Local List of buildings of local architectural or historic importance.
Its significance lies in the combination of its architecture, its unusual design, its connection with the Bemrose family and its place in Derby's educational development.
It is important to distinguish this local designation from national statutory listing.
From its beginnings in Abbey Street to the impressive school built on Uttoxeter New Road, Bemrose represents an important chapter in the story of education in Derby.
And beneath the history of the school lies another layer of local history: Elm Tree House, the Abell family, the changing landscape of Rowditch and the possible route of an ancient Roman road.
One site. Centuries of history. Countless stories.
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🔎 OUR NEXT RESEARCH QUESTIONS
There is still plenty to uncover!
📍 What can historic maps tell us about Elm Tree House and the Abell family?
📍 Can original architectural drawings reveal more about MacPherson's intended Pi-shaped design?
📍 What do Derby Borough Council's minutes tell us about the decision to build the school?
📍 Can the proposed route of Ryknield Street be investigated further using archaeological records?
These are exactly the sorts of questions that make local history so fascinating.
📚 Historical sources and further reading:
• Derbyshire Historic Environment Record – Bemrose School and the possible route of Ryknield Street.
• Derby City Council – Local List of buildings of local architectural and historic importance.
• Derbyshire Record Office – historical school records.
• Bemrose School, Derby: The Grammar School Years, edited by Robert Wilson, published in 2021.
⚠️ HISTORICAL DISCLAIMER: This post draws on published historical and architectural descriptions. The suggested Roman road alignment remains a hypothesis, and further archival research is needed to establish more precise details about Elm Tree House, the Abell family and the pre-school landscape.
💙 STOCKBROOK PAST & PRESENT
Because every building has a story, every street has a history, and every part of Derby has something worth remembering.
👇 DID YOU ATTEND BEMROSE?
Did you study there, teach there, work there, or have family members who went to the school?
Do you have old photographs, school memories, class pictures or stories about the original building?
We would love to hear from you. Share your memories in the comments and help us preserve Derby's history for the next generation.
