York’s local residents and visitors have been intrigued to see a mushrooming of scaffolding and building work taking place along Bootham in the historic buildings occupied by the famous Quaker school. Bootham School is currently engaged in a major development project to restore and upgrade ten of its Georgian mansions which, together, form the main part of the senior school, in the heart of York.

Headmaster Jonathan Taylor said: “In order to keep everyone aware of what’s going on, we have put up a number of information boards along the school frontage to explain what we are doing and, more interestingly, to give some historical background on the buildings themselves.”

The school moved to No 51 Bootham in 1846 from its original site in Lawrence Street – a move propelled by the unhealthy surroundings of Foss Islands. The swampy land had necessitated the schoolmasters of the day to keep a pistol handy for shooting rats who frequently visited the classrooms.

Boys were posted as lookouts and when a rat was spotted, the teacher would throw down the chalk and blast away with the firearm. Occasionally, if the lesson was at a critical point, the young lookout would be given the chance to try his hand at vermin dispatch. Finally, an outbreak of cholera forced the governors of the day to abandon Lawrence Street in favour of the clean air of Bootham. Over the succeeding decades, the school acquired more buildings, including No 49, the home of Joseph Rowntree, the well-known philanthropist and social reformer, whose private fortune set up the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. No 45 Bootham was bought in 1948 and used as staff flats during the post-war housing shortage. But this building held a secret which has only recently revealed itself to the School’s authorities. Hidden within partitioned walls on the first floor of the building is a beautiful Georgian ballroom. This room had remained undiscovered until the school’s recent development planning processes revealed the size and scale of the room. Mr Taylor said: “This has been a really exciting discovery.”

The whole building has been described as having benefited from “benign neglect”, and consequently many of the original features are still intact – including some very impressive ceiling plasterwork and cornicing, pictured left. York’s Georgian Society has been informed about the “discovery” and is keenly interested in the development plans.

Darrell Buttery, a member of York Civic Trust, described the room as “an undiscovered sleeping princess” and declared himself to be very excited about the prospect of seeing the room brought back to life. He said: “This room is of a size and style that are all too rare in York.”

Mr Taylor said: “The room is to be known as the Bootham Recital Room.

It will make a wonderful space for music, for drama, for talks and for meetings and we are restoring it with both the school and the city in mind.”

More information about the other buildings and their proposed uses can be gleaned from the new display boards which shroud the street level scaffolding. Other enquirers are welcome to phone the school on 01904 623261 or visit the website at boothamschool.com/trust where pictures of the ballroom restoration may be viewed.