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210 HISTORY OF EAST GRINSTEAD. |
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dentist, formerly resided, but it soon outgrew that and was removed to the larger residence now occupied by the Rev. J. Waller. In time this likewise got overcrowded, so the next house, now occupied by St. Margaret's School, was also taken, and the two were joined by a covered corridor, long since removed. One house was known as St. Agnes, the other as St. Cecilia. The school was removed to the mother home in 1874 and now has about 65 boarders. The necessity for some larger building, where all the various branches of the work might be centralised, had long been apparent, and ten acres of ground for the intended buildings, with the stone quarry adjoining, were purchased in 1864. The first stone of the magnificent pile was laid on July 20th, 1865, by the late Mr. Francis Barchard, of Little Horsted, near Uckfield, and a blessing was pronounced on the work by the Archimandrite Stratuli of the Russian Church. Dr. Neale thus saw the beginning of the work which lay nearest his heart. He never lived to see its completion. A year after the foundation stone was laid he passed peacefully away, his premature death a distinct loss to all Christendom.
The founder's death was not allowed in any way to interfere with the progress of the noble works which he had initiated. St. Margaret's was at once looked on as a memorial to Dr. Neale, and was ready for occupation in 1870. First the Sisterhood and Orphanage, then St. Agnes' School, then the Industrial Training School for Servants were removed there, and to-day the institution has an average residential population of 230. The magnificently proportioned chapel, considered one of the late Mr. Street's masterpieces, was opened on February 24th, 1883, and the next development was the building of a Guest House. In 1892 St. Margaret's College was opened in the old premises which had been known as St. Cecilia, and here there are now about 40 boarders and 45 day scholars. Some exquisite work is carried on within the Convent walls. The Sisters make ecclesiastical and secular embroidery of delicate and most artistic design. They have established guilds, meetings and schools for |
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