Gainford's long-abandoned St Peter's School is demolished

Bulldozers have razed the last standing building of St Peter's Community School on Main Road in Gainford, between Darlington and Barnard Castle.

The building on the A67 first opened in 1900 as St Peter's Roman Catholic Orphanage, where it housed orphaned boys up to the age of 13.

It was last used as a care home which closed in the mid-90s and has since been the repeated target of vandals and arsonists, becoming an eyesore at the gateway to the picturesque village.

Gainford Parish Council chairman Cllr Andrew Wilkinson, said: "The parish council and the community are pleased to see it go.

"It's been a dangerous and pretty ugly set of circumstances for far too long. 

"Where we go forward from here though - there is a decent enough brownfield site here that does need to be developed, otherwise it will remain a dangerous place for children and families to be around. 

"It is beholden on Durham County Council to actually control what sort of new planning application they will accept." 

He added: "The parish council have been lobbying the two landowners that have control over the site  - they need to get on and agree to submit a joint planning application.

"That is the only way they will ever get planning through. They have to work in conjunction with each other, otherwise I think it's going to be a wasteland for many years to come. 

"It's at the gateway to the village and has been an eyesore - but equally now that it's razed to ground ground there are still piles of bricks and bunds, which I am sure will go over the next couple of weeks. 

"It's a short-term fix that is long overdue, but they need a medium-term plan to bring the area back."

"If it's to remove everything and return it to green fields then I think the village will welcome that but equally they accept it is brownfield site and therefore will be developed.

"And if it is developed for anything it probably is housing - and it should have a good volume of proper affordable housing - it needs to develop on a range of affordability."

In 2021 plans to convert the site into homes, with further properties being built on the wider site, were refused due to the development "failing to effectively use the previously developed land".

Plans to demolish the irreversibly damaged building were approved due to its dangerous and inaccessible state.

The building was opened in 1900 as St Peter's Roman Catholic Orphanage. During World War II, the school was used to house inmates evacuated from St Aidan's Approved School while the boys of St Peter's boarded at St Mary's home at Tudhoe.

Between 1948 and 1954 further extensions were constructed at the southeast end of the building.

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In 1973 the school changed its name to St Peter's Community School but eventually closed in 1984 due to lack of funding.

After closing it's doors in 1984 the building was sold on the private market and for a period of a little over ten years it was used as a care home for the elderly.

Since the mid-1990s the main building has stood empty and has suffered vandalism and fire damage.

By 1994 the building had undergone a series of demolition until all that remained was the principle building.