Abbey Gate College, The Main Block Except The Gatehouse

Abbey Gate College, originally known as Saighton Grange, is a house that now serves as the main block of the college. The right wing was built in 1861 by Edward Hodkinson for the 2nd Marquis of Westminster, while the front wing was constructed or extended in 1876 for the 1st Duke. The hall located immediately behind the Gatehouse may date from the early 19th century. The building is made of red sandstone and features roofs covered with banded shaped tiles.

The two-storey front wing has a Tudor style, with two bays to the left of the Gatehouse and three to the right. It includes battlements, crow-stepped gables, and tall chimneys with circular flues on weathered plinths. The windows have concave bevelled mullions and transoms, with large-pane wooden casements. There is a shaped framed and boarded oak door with ornate wrought iron hinges.

The right wing, also two storeys, features three stone-fronted gables with half dormers on the inner face and a three-storey cross-gabled terminal on the left. It has four tall ridge chimneys with round flues on weathered plinths, large-pane timber casements, hollow-bevelled mullions and transoms, and double-bevelled reveals.

Inside the hall, there are Gothick double doors, each with three panels, under a moulded arch. To the left, there are Ionic surrounds to two inlaid six-panel doors. A U-shaped stone stair with square iron balusters and a grooved hardwood handrail is located at the rear. Each storey features Ionic colonnades with two columns and two end pilasters to the right. Above the stairwell is a circular rooflight with twelve radial bars separated by segmental bars at the circumference, set in a plaster ceiling with square recessed panels.