Springfield House

Little is known about the early history of the house, but in 1884 it was bought by the Rev. John Osborne Seager, headmaster of the Grange Preparatory School opposite. He rebuilt and extended it and when he died in 1889 his son John took over the house and the headmastership of the Grange school.

The Seagers left Springfield in the 1890s, after which there were various changes of ownership and tenancy until in 1922 it was sold to self made millionaire Jeremiah Inns, a local man who like his father before him, had made his money by hard work and shrewd business deals. After the death of his first wife Mary in 1935, he married again. His second wife, Helen, was given a free hand to refurbish the house to the highest standards and the remains are visible in the building today.

On the death of Jeremiah in 1946 the house was left to his widow for her lifetime and then to be used by the town as a cottage hospital, but by the time she died in 1968 the National Health Service had made cottage hospitals a thing of the past. After many debates and deliberations Springfield House eventually became the Old Stevenage Community Centre.

In 1959 it was the setting for the film ‘Serious Charge’ in which a young Cliff Richard made his screen debut.