Former Writing and Plainsong School is a Grade II listed building in the County Durham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 6 May 1952. School.
Former Writing and Plainsong School
- WRENN ID
- eternal-chamber-sable
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- County Durham
- Constituency
- City of Durham MP: Mary Kelly Foy (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 6 May 1952
- Type
- School
- Address
- Former Writing and Plainsong School, Palace Green, City of Durham
- OS grid reference
- NZ 274 422
- Coordinates
- 54.77419, -1.57541
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Former Writing and Plainsong School is a building that was part of an almshouse block and is now used as an office. It was constructed in 1668 by Longstaffe for Bishop Cosin. The building is made of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and features a stone-flagged roof with stone gable copings. It has one storey and an attic, with one gabled bay and a narrow entrance bay on the left. The entrance consists of a partly-glazed studded panelled door set in a flat Tudor-arched surround, which is topped by a high dripmould. There are two ground-floor cross windows and a three-light attic window, all of which have renewed double-chamfered surrounds and stone mullions. The gable coping is supported by a moulded kneeler on the left and is integrated into a building added in 1928 on the right. Below the attic window, there is a coat of arms and an eroded scroll.
Local climate
Former Writing and Plainsong School receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 58% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 96% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 41 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 79% of listed buildings. Of these, 24 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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