Orphan School buildings  

There are three main orphan school buildings in the St John’s Park Precinct. The earliest are the John Lee Archer designed Female Orphan School and Male Orphan School, flanking St John’s Anglican Church. They were designed in 1829 and constructed between 1831 and 1833. The third building is the Infant Orphan School towards the back of the site. It was constructed in 1862 and built by former Orphan School boy, Robert Wiggins.

The Orphan Schools closed in 1879 and the buildings were used for the New Town Charitable Institution for the ‘aged poor’, which later became St John’s Park Hospital. It closed in 1994.