Danily Court

Danily Court

Comprises five terraced bungalows in Well Street/Leech Road, named in memory of the Danily family.

Sometime between 1836 and 1842 Malpas Grammar School was taken over by Thomas Danily, a schoolmaster from Montgomeryshire.

The now demolished Post Office front to Beech House was built around 1892 by Thomas Henry Danily, who as well as

headmaster of Malpas Grammar School he was also the Malpas postmaster.

Matthew Henry Danily, the youngest of his four sons, was born in 1849.

Around 1871 Matthew joined his father in the school, as assistant master.

By 1881 he had taken over from Thomas as both headmaster and post master, continuing to run the school until the end of 1893.

In 1883 Matthew Henry Danily, then the headmaster of Malpas Grammar School, had opened the Malpas Social Club and Institute in Church Street.

The building on Church Street having been at one time a lodging house and a Roman Catholic mass centre, it went on to become the town's first telephone exchange, and latterly, Lloyds Bank (Now closed)

The social club provided for young men, such facilities as billiards and a reading room supplied with newspapers and other appropriate material, in a bid to keep the men off the streets, out of the pubs and away from the many worldly temptations which surrounded them! An early version of a youth club?

The Institute moved into the Jubilee Hall after it was opened in 1888.

Sometime after 1893 he retired from the school, while retaining his position as post master, and sold it as a going concern to Aubrey Shuttlewood, who already ran a chemist's shop in Malpas.

Article produced and published by Chris Whitehurst – 7th January 2024 – Updated 2nd January 2026
Information researched by David Hayns