Our History

Dormers Wells Primary School were purpose built in 1954. The school is situated on the outskirts of Southall and lies in its own grounds adjacent to the local golf course. For several years it was a Middle School, catering for 8 – 12 year old children, since September 1993 it has been a Junior School. In January 1994 it became Grant Maintained. Subsequently in September 1999 it became a Foundation school. Dormers Wells Infant and Junior School amalgamated on the 1st September 2023.

‘Southall is mentioned in 1274, (fn. 14) and in 1384 the names of ‘Dormoteswell’ (Dorman’s Well) …occur in a court roll.’

‘The manor of DORMAN’S WELL seems to have developed in the late 16th and 17th centuries from the house and estate of Gregory Fiennes, Lord Dacre. It is said to have taken its name from the medicinal chalybeate springs in the neighbourhood. (fn. 41) A Ralph Dorman is mentioned in 1294 (fn. 42) but nothing further is known of the family. At all events the large house called Dorman’s Well was in the possession of Robert Cheeseman on his death in 1547. (fn. 46) Cheeseman left the house or ‘great hall’ to Alice his relict as long as she remained a widow. The house descended as the manor of Southall, and became the seat of Lord and Lady Dacre, who had an inclosed park surrounding the house. (fn. 47) It was devised by Anne, Lady Dacre, together with Norwood, to Sir Edward Fenner and her other executors and when Fenner died in 1612 he was found to hold for his life the house called Burnt House. (fn. 48) Thereafter Dorman’s Well followed the same descent as Norwood manor. In 1770 the land comprising Dorman’s Well Farm, amounting to nearly 108 a., was principally arable. (fn. 49) By 1816 it was described merely as a farm. (fn. 50) There is no indication that the estate was styled a manor before the late 18th century. (fn. 51) In the early 16th century it probably formed the manor-house and demesne of Southall manor, and perhaps adopted the style of a manor after Southall manor-house, built by the Awsiters, had become divorced from its manor. There was a chapel, possibly a domestic one, at Dorman’s Well in 1547. (fn. 52)’

References From: ‘Norwood, including Southall: Introduction’, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 40-43. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22400  Date accessed: 25 May 2012.