St Anne's Children's Home, Orpington, 1928-1981 inclusive

In 1887 Bishop Butt founded the Southwark Diocesan Education Council and Rescue Society for poor and neglected children from South London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. He was inspired by the work of Canon Crea at Southwark Cathedral, who had acquired a disused carpenter's shop as a shelter for such children, becoming the first General Manager of the Society. In 1891 a 60 acre site at Orpington was purchased by the Society, which allowed sufficient space for the proposed buildings, as well as fields in which to teach the children basic farming methods.

The building of St Joseph's Orphanage and School (for 200 boys from the age of four onward) was completed in 1892. On 23 July 1893, the Presentation Brothers, with Brother Louis as Superior, arrived from Cork to undertake their task of training and educating the boys. For the next seven years St Joseph's Orphanage and School was also occupied by girls, under the guidance of the Sisters of Mercy, whose Superior was Mother Mary Martha. The original orphanage was divided into wings, one for boys and one for girls, with a huge kitchen area between.

On 24 September 1900, the combined orphanage and girls' school of St. Anne's was opened, with 230 girls transferring there from St Joseph's. At this stage both orphanage schools became officially recognised by the Local Government Board. The immediate proximity of the two orphanages was apparently intended to ensure that brothers and sisters could remain close to each other and relatives could visit more easily. However some concerns were voiced about the separation of siblings and later a number of family units were developed.

In 1928 the original buildings for St. Anne's, a voluntary school for the orphanages, were erected.

During the Second World War both orphanages were evacuated. St Anne's and the Sisters of Mercy went first to St Helen's (a small village called Sutton Leech, to be exact) and then - rather surprisingly - to just outside heavily-bombed Coventry.

The boys of St Joseph's with the Brothers went to Hesketh Bank in Lancashire. Later on they went elsewhere in the county. Most of the children returned to Orpington around 6 months after the cessation of hostilities.

St Anne's became a primary school in April 1954 after being recognised by the Local Education Authority; the Headmistress was Sister Angela, who remained in this post until 1984.

As prosperity grew in post-war England and social attitudes changed, the need for orphanages declined. Then in the late seventies, the land on which the original Holy Innocents' Church stood was found to be suffering from such serious subsidence that closure of the building became necessary. Subsequently the land was sold for housing and the Church and the orphanages were demolished. The land was developed as St Joseph's Estate and some of the new roads were named after prominent sisters and brothers associated with the old orphanages.

See Holy Innocents RC Church, Orpington website at http://www.holyinnocents.org.uk/pages/history_parish1.php for further details. [Accessed 01 November 2010 by K. Johnston.]