WHAT did Queen Victoria and St Peter's School in Hereford have in common?

They both started their service to the community in the summer of 1837.

On June 22, King William IV died and the young Queen inherited the throne.

The people of Hereford gathered in the streets to mourn one and welcome the other.

Less than three weeks later more than 2,000 of them turned out again to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of St Peter's School, the first in the city to open its doors to pupils of all social classes.

Queen Victoria has been long since gone.

The school lasted much longer, helping thousands of local children to master reading, writing and arithmetic.

It finally closed its classrooms nearly 20 years ago but it was only recently that the red brick building was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Soon the site is to start on a new chapter in Hereford history - earmarked to provide a new Probation Service HQ.

But before the existence of the school passes into the mists of time now is the moment to record its passage through nearly 150 years of public life.

The Rev. John Venn was a prominent force in bringing improvements to Hereford and he thought the school in his parish of St Peter's to be inadequate.

With six others he bought a cottage facing Union St and land behind the frontage. Access was through a wide passage from the street, north of the present No 22.

At the time education was not universally popular in Herefordshire, the average attendance rate for children at elementary schools in the county standing at around 74 per cent. The figures improved as the century progressed and in the 1890s Herefordshire was placed 44th out of 58 county and divisions listed.

When John Venn arrived, education in Hereford was provided by a fee-paying grammar school, the free Bluecoat School, a boys' national school in Bewell Street, a similar girls' school in Bye Street, both financed by a Church of England Society.

Each parish had a school, and there were round 20 private establishments of various types.

146-year history

After it opened St Peter's appeared to be that of a standard elementary school. In 1872 it received a grant of £37.10s from the Diocesan Education Board, the second highest awarded in a five-year period.

Bible and prayer book examinations were important in school and St Peter's boys and girls performed well.

The school was modified several times during its lifetime, with new infants rooms, structural alterations and separate entrances and playgrounds for boys and girls.

Originally accommodation was also provided for teachers and the 1861 census shows three separate households.

The mixed school closed in 1904 to re-open as the St Peter's Council School for Girls the following year and was to carry on its good work until 1983.

Before the city centre site faces its new role, an archaeological investigation has been going on.

Since 1981 people from Archenfield Archaeology have uncovered a wide range of important archaeology deposits and structures. A well-preserved medieval industrial feature was found cut into the natural gravels.

Other finds include prehistoric flints, mediaeval coins, a ring, a bone pepper pot, dice and evidence of a medieval horn working industry.

Before it was demolished the building was recorded and analysed by specialist employed by Archenfield Archaeology.

It was not surprising they recovered a good mixture of marbles, rulers and examples of pupils homework, as well as old newspapers.

More work will be carried out during construction work of the school's successor and these will be analysed and published and made available to the public at a later date.