We had tried this place before when we were passing through but could never find a way in. It was only with luck as we had given up on the place. One night we were on our way to watch Easington play, so we had to pass the school and noticed an entry point. The day after we came back and managed to get inside. There has been talks about the school getting demolished, so we’re happy we managed to see the place before that happened.
History
The Grade-II listed former Easington Infants School, in Seaside Lane, opened in 1915 and once housed 1,700 pupils. Closed in 1997. By 1913 a large council school was being built. According to Kelly’s Directory for 1914 “Easington Colliery School for boys, girls and infants when completed will have cost £21,000 for 1296 children; average attendance 320 boys, 310 girls and 325 infants.
In the separate schools the seniors were upstairs and the younger one’s downstairs. The boys building was at the top of the bank separated by two yards from the girls’ building which was further down the road, nearer to the colliery. Each department had its own yard with outside toilets. In the senior boys’ yard was a special building, tucked in the corner for woodwork with a matching one for cookery in the girls’ yard.
This arrangement continued until 1938 when the “New School” (always known as this even when it was about to be demolished in the 1990’s) was built. This building was between the colliery and the village in an area known locally as the ‘Waterworks’ in Whickham Street.
The original schools in the colliery were roomy with good halls and yards but this new school had a gym, playing fields, halls with stages, domestic science and science rooms, art rooms plus each school was built round a quadrangle and it was so light and bright. The only room upstairs was a library.
The Explore
We could only get inside one of the buildings, as the other one was sealed. Getting in was quite difficult since the place is surrounded by houses with cars and people going past every few minutes. Luckily we timed it just right and got straight in without alerting anyone.
You could tell the building had been abandoned for a while. The walls were peeling quite a lot and there were bricks and wood all over the place. Not to mention the amount of dead pigeons that lay around. The conditions were understandably awful, however that didn’t take away the pleasure of exploring the building.
It was clear to see other explorers had been before, along with the usual graffiti artists who normally try and colour the place up. I must say the graffiti, compared to other places we’ve been, was very poor. We went up one stairwell to the top floor and came down the other. The upper seemed to be a residence for the living pigeons, which felt like they were watching us with every step.
After scouting out the top floor, we headed back down. We came across a pile of old folders and papers, which were once part of the school. There wasn’t much interesting among the pile, so we decided to call it a day and head out. We tried our luck to get into the other building, however we still couldn’t find a way in.
Photos
Thanks for reading!
History
The Grade-II listed former Easington Infants School, in Seaside Lane, opened in 1915 and once housed 1,700 pupils. Closed in 1997. By 1913 a large council school was being built. According to Kelly’s Directory for 1914 “Easington Colliery School for boys, girls and infants when completed will have cost £21,000 for 1296 children; average attendance 320 boys, 310 girls and 325 infants.
In the separate schools the seniors were upstairs and the younger one’s downstairs. The boys building was at the top of the bank separated by two yards from the girls’ building which was further down the road, nearer to the colliery. Each department had its own yard with outside toilets. In the senior boys’ yard was a special building, tucked in the corner for woodwork with a matching one for cookery in the girls’ yard.
This arrangement continued until 1938 when the “New School” (always known as this even when it was about to be demolished in the 1990’s) was built. This building was between the colliery and the village in an area known locally as the ‘Waterworks’ in Whickham Street.
The original schools in the colliery were roomy with good halls and yards but this new school had a gym, playing fields, halls with stages, domestic science and science rooms, art rooms plus each school was built round a quadrangle and it was so light and bright. The only room upstairs was a library.
The Explore
We could only get inside one of the buildings, as the other one was sealed. Getting in was quite difficult since the place is surrounded by houses with cars and people going past every few minutes. Luckily we timed it just right and got straight in without alerting anyone.
You could tell the building had been abandoned for a while. The walls were peeling quite a lot and there were bricks and wood all over the place. Not to mention the amount of dead pigeons that lay around. The conditions were understandably awful, however that didn’t take away the pleasure of exploring the building.
It was clear to see other explorers had been before, along with the usual graffiti artists who normally try and colour the place up. I must say the graffiti, compared to other places we’ve been, was very poor. We went up one stairwell to the top floor and came down the other. The upper seemed to be a residence for the living pigeons, which felt like they were watching us with every step.
After scouting out the top floor, we headed back down. We came across a pile of old folders and papers, which were once part of the school. There wasn’t much interesting among the pile, so we decided to call it a day and head out. We tried our luck to get into the other building, however we still couldn’t find a way in.
Photos
Thanks for reading!
