Property agent Alex Dawson has put Clerkenwell Parochial CofE Primary School up for sale or to be rented out — but insists it remains for use in education, community or faith. The Grade II-listed school first opened in 1699 was once a regular venue for Charles Dickens’s 'Penny Readings' in the 1860s. It also has one of Britain’s oldest fig trees in its grounds as living witness to its history, Alex points out. The late Queen Elizabeth visited the school in the heart of Amwell Village for its 300th anniversary in 2000. Clerkenwell Parochial CofE Primary School remained open through the Second World War, with its playground bunker shelter for children during enemy air raids.