History

History

Ashburnham’s current buildings and location date from the early 1970s, when the school was created as part of the World’s End Estate development. But the school name and association with area goes back much further.

The school’s name comes from John Ashburnham, second Earl of Ashburnham, who acquired land near the river in 1767 and built a house there.

This land passed through many hands, and eventually became Cremorne Gardens, a noisy and colourful pleasure gardens including restaurants, entertainments, dancing and balloon ascents that was popular from 1845 to 1877.

After the Gardens’ closure, the area was redeveloped into low-rise Victorian terraced housing, and the original school was built as part of this, opening in 1885. The original buildings were on Lots Road, in the shadow of the famous Power Station, opened in 1904. The station eventually powered most of the Underground, and was only de-commissioned in 2002.

The original buildings no longer exist as they were demolished in 2009 to make way for the new Chelsea Academy.