The Dukes School

The Duke's School

School built between 1901 and 1904 by architect James Wightman Douglas of Alnwick for the 6th Duke of Northumberland. The building is constructed of sandstone with multiple pitched slate roofs featuring prominent kneelers.

The school is planned around a courtyard form, with buildings ranged on three sides of a space open to the south. The main entrance is situated in the corner of the north range. The principal school buildings occupy the east wing, while the sub-warden's house and resident masters' hostel are positioned to the east, with caretakers' and servants' accommodation to the west.

The exterior is executed in Edwardian Gothic style, rising to two and three storeys with multiple roofs, gables, gablets and windows of varying styles. A central recessed courtyard is backed by a seven-bay range with a central gablet to the first floor. A ground floor veranda with parapeted balcony extends around the west side and forms a vestibule enclosing the main entrance at the east end. The balcony arcading carries the Latin inscription "Nisi dominus aedificaverit domum in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam". Windows vary between two, three and four lights with mullioned frames on the first floor. The west wing features multiple chimney stacks, including a large external stack carved with ducal shields and a ground floor door to the courtyard. The sub-warden's house entrance at the west end has a heavy oak panelled door with mullioned fan light above. Multiple mullioned and mullioned and transomed windows appear on ground and upper floors. A castellated cross wing with hipped roof extends from the main range. The east wing contains a projecting cross wing housing the examinations hall, which features three stepped and louvered lights and a stained glass cantered bay below. Four stone mullioned windows pierce the side walls at first floor level. The castellated parapet of this bay displays a plaque with carved ducal arms. Symmetrical bays containing classrooms flank either side of the cross wing, featuring a central gablet and mullion and transomed windows, some with later replacement frames.

The interior includes an entrance vestibule with principal school rooms on the ground and first floor. The main examinations hall has a high wooden groined ceiling resting on carved stone corbels, with wooden panelling and an upper galleried corridor to the north and large opposing openings to plain classrooms. A large south-east window contains fine heraldic symbols in stained glass designed by C. E. Kempe and Co, featuring a central panel with the arms of Duchess Eleanor surmounted by a ducal coronet, with heraldic supporters on either side and surrounding panels displaying shields of arms from early important alliances. An aisled school corridor runs west to the hostel for resident masters and the sub-warden's house. The entrance lobby has a terrazzo floor, with principal rooms and bedrooms on the ground and first floor retaining ceiling cornices, original skirtings, dado rails, doors, door furniture and original chimney-pieces, some with mantle shelves and over-mantles. Kitchens and services to the north retain original doors and simple fittings. The main staircase to the first floor has plain stick balusters and carved newels. A staircase to the second floor serves the caretaker's house and servants' apartments, plainly decorated with original doors, fittings and simple fireplaces. Mid to late twentieth-century extensions at the rear of the school are not of special interest.

The Duke's School was founded in 1810 by Hugh, 2nd Duke of Northumberland to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of King George III and provide elementary education for two hundred poor boys. By 1901, with an expanding curriculum, it was given secondary status. The 6th Duke of Northumberland undertook to provide a new building equipped with the most up to date fittings and furniture. The present school was built on a new site at a cost of £13,000. The chosen architect, James Wightman Douglas, was an old boy of the school. A contemporary newspaper account indicates the school was constructed on the soundest educational and social principles, aiming to provide a stimulating atmosphere. The building was opened on 27 July 1904 by Dowager Duchess Eleanor, widow of the 4th Duke of Northumberland. The school functioned as a boys' grammar school until 1977, when it became a local middle school catering for girls and boys aged nine to thirteen.