Aerial view of site of the former Oakes School. Photo: CAV Aerial.
Added to the Victorian Society’s Top Ten Endangered Buildings list in 2026.
Grade II, Charles Fowler, 1873; extended by Ben Stocks, 1885
The long empty and seriously decaying buildings of Oakes School are in an otherwise well-looked-after district of surviving Victorian commercial, domestic and community buildings from the 1860s and 1870s. Closing soon after 1970, the former school was in residential use and then utilised as the Wellington Court Residential Care Home for some years until that in turn closed. For many years since it has been decaying with spasmodic attempts by its owners to place and replace covers over windows and door spaces, and across holes in walls and roofing as these appear and enlarge. The two other buildings on the site by comparison are in use including Oakes School Lodge, which is maintained and occupied. Despite numerous requests, including from Huddersfield Civic Society and members of the Victorian Society, Kirklees Council continues not to require the owner of Oakes School to maintain this listed building.
The Former Oakes School, Oakes Road, Huddersfield. Photo: CAV Aerial
Oakes School was founded amongst the swathe opened as Board Schools which marked the start of state education for the masses. Education had changed for children with the passing of the 1870 Education Act making school mandatory for everyone between the ages of 5 and 13. Girls and boys attended elementary community schools to learn the three R’s, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. They became local landmarks in districts alongside churches, chapels and pubs. Board Schools were the first state-run schools and local Boards could raise funds. Members were directly elected, not appointed by borough councils or religious bodies. Unusually for the period, women were eligible to win election to the school boards.
The former Oakes School in a photo taken by Smith Carter. Carter was a railway porter, fireman, stationer and shopkeeper, but is now best known now as a talented amateur local photographer. At one stage he ran a photography and postcard business. Courtesy: Kirklees Image Archive and Huddersfield Exposed website
Former Oakes School Huddersfield. Photo: Geoff Hughes
Practically all the nearby Victorian housing is of good quality and remains in use today. This remains a popular urban area with good access to local shops, eateries, buses, schools, surgery and hospital. By contrast, nearby former industrial buildings and once vacant sites have quickly found new uses: Wellington Mills has been converted to business units, flats and cafe whilst the main Acre Mills building is now an extension of the nearby Huddersfield Infirmary with new housing built in the spaces in and around its former weaving sheds. Oakes Baptist Church remains well used, well maintained and still undertakes community initiatives, including opening on Heritage Opening Days. Oakes School sticks out.
Porch of the former Oakes School Huddersfield. Photo: CAV Aerial.
Oakes School can and should find re-use. Kirklees Council need to take enforcement action now. The owner should sell this re-usable building rather than continue a course of action that will lead to the building eventually falling down or having to be demolished.
Griff Rhys Jones, Victorian Society President, said: ‘‘Actions speak louder than words. It is incredible that even in areas surrounded by good examples of preservation, where well maintained Victorian buildings add to the charm and success of an area, some forms of needless profiteering or prevarication lead to decay, neglect and steady decline. The council must not allow this useful, listed, and important building to be further abandoned, just because a piece of paper cannot be signed and issued. It is time for the owners to get active or get off.”
James Hughes, Director of the Victorian Society, said: “Oakes School is a clear example of a building that could and should have a viable future. Its continued decline is not inevitable, but the result of inaction. With strong local demand and successful examples of reuse nearby, there is no reason why this building cannot once again contribute to the life of the community.”
The full Top Ten Endangered Buildings list for 2026 of Victorian and Edwardian buildings, and the archive of our previous Top Ten lists, can be viewed here.
Tower, former Oakes School. Photo: CAV Aerial.