Bishop's School

Interior of Bishop's School set out as an historic classroom. About

The small school house is owned by the Day family (who also own Mardsen House next door), but it is administered and maintained by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT). 

During school terms, Bishop’s School operates as an educational museum as part of the Nelson Provincial Museum’s Education Outside the Classroom Programme. School groups from all over the region visit and, dressed in period costume, experience an old fashioned school lesson.

A recent addition out the front of the school is the interpretive panel in the rose garden. It gives a snapshot of the building’s history and it is well worth pausing for a read.

Inside, the school is still set up as a working classroom but also features changing displays of educational artefacts of interest to all ages.

History

Bishop’s School was built in 1844 as part of a plan by the Church of England to establish schools in all the main towns of the new colony.  The original building was in brick, 40 feet by 20 feet and cost the princely sum of £248. 

Only the porch on the west side remains from this building, the present building dating from 1881. In its early days the building was used by a variety of schools, both church and secular but in 1860 Bishop Hobhouse, the first Bishop of Nelson reopened it as Bishop’s School.

For 35 years it provided an academic education for boys until falling rolls and financial difficulties caused it’s closure in 1895. The building remained in the ownership of the Anglican Church and had a variety of uses including library, meeting room, private school, scout and guide room, before it was purchased by the Day family in 1973.

The Nelson branch of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust stepped in to restore the building in 1976 - 78 and it has been a joy to all those that visit it ever since.

Location

Bishop's School is located on Sussex Street between Nile Street and Selwyn Place.

For more information

For more information on heritage walks and heritage sites please contact Arts and Heritage Adviser.