Woodside (Woodside Junior School)

Woodside (Woodside Junior School)

Small mansion in use as a school since 1950. Built in 1877 by architect George Woodhouse for the Mellor family, local mill owners. Constructed of random rubble with ashlar dressings and Westmorland slate roof.

The building follows an asymmetrical plan with the entrance and stair hall positioned to the north, connected by a spinal corridor linking the principal rooms which face the garden to the south and west. Service rooms occupy the north side of the corridor. The architectural style is Gothic.

The building rises to two storeys with attics and basement. The entrance front is asymmetrically composed, with the entrance positioned towards the right within a gabled porch that projects from a tower topped by a steep mansard roof featuring wrought-iron brattishing. Two asymmetrical gables rise to the left, with a blind return of one gable to the west garden front positioned to the right of the doorway. The entrance doorway itself is set within a steep arch in the coped gabled porch, above which sits a stepped 4-light mullioned and transomed stair window. The leftmost gable contains a 2-light mullioned and transomed window to the ground floor and a 5-light mullioned window above, the central light blind with carved panel. An advanced gable to the left features 2-light mullioned and transomed windows with stilted heads divided by a central buttress, and an oriel window to the first floor with ogee-headed mullioned lights. Paired arched lights divided by a central shaft sit beneath a steep relieving arch in the upper storey. Beyond these are three lancet windows at ground floor level, and an oriel window with ogee lights canted across the corner with the eastern return. An axial stack rises to the right of the advanced gable.

The west garden front is divided by two asymmetrical gables separated by a narrow bay containing small arched windows and a gablet. The left-hand gable has paired arched lights divided by a central buttress, with an oriel window to the first floor. A continuous string course, stepped either side of the oriel, runs across this elevation. The right-hand gable features a canted bay with ogee-headed mullioned lights.

The south garden front displays an expressed stack on the return of the south-west gable, flanked by single ogee lights. An advanced gabled range follows, with a 4-light mullioned window featuring ogee-headed lights, above which sits a similar 3-light window, both divided by shafts. A foiled lancet window occupies the apex. An axial stack sits to the left. An advanced right-hand range is linked to this gable by a porch with a trefoiled arch to the doorway and a traceried gabled screen above. A full-height canted bay window extends across the right side, its mullioned windows crowned with ogee heads and a corbelled balconette at ground floor level. A gable to the left contains paired ogee lights to each floor and quatrefoil mullioned windows in the apex, with enriched bargeboards to overhanging eaves carried on brackets.

The eastern elevation features a central tower positioned over the back entrance and staircase. The stair is expressed by a tiered mullioned and transomed window beneath a steep relieving arch, and the tower itself, topped with a corbel table and gargoyles, is surmounted by wrought-iron brattishing. A complex expressed stack, buttressed and corbelled out, stands to the left of the tower.

The interior preserves much of the original layout and detailing. Both staircases survive, including the main staircase with an ornate trefoiled balustrade, which is top lit by painted glass set within a lantern. The stair window contains stained glass with armorial emblems and monogrammes of the Mellor family. Original joinery throughout includes the richly panelled walls and ceiling of the dining room, and the pierced panelled ceiling in the basement billiards room.