Werneth Park Adult Education Centre

OLDHAM

SD9104SE WERNETH PARK 780-1/7/92 (North East side) Werneth Park Adult Education Centre

II

House, now in use as study centre. c1847-9, and in use as study centre since 1938. Brick with stone dressings and Welsh slate roof. Italianate style. 2 storeys, square in plan though asymmetrically expressed. Entrance front faces west. Central entrance in angle with advanced gabled wing to left. Projecting entrance porch with shell-hood to architrave over paired doors, and panelled parapet above. Canted bay window in pedimented gabled wing to left, with panelled parapet. Blind window to right of doorway. Double string course, and three 4-pane sash windows above. Modillion cornice to overhanging eaves. Paired pedimented gables to garden front, advanced each side of central entrance, and each with squared bay window with fretted parapet. Three 4-pane sash windows above. End wall and axial stacks. INTERIOR: much of the original interior survives, including the staircase, and decorative plaster cornices, and in one room the walls and ceiling are painted in a Roccoco Italian style. The house was built by the Lees family as a private residence, but in 1835 it was given to Oldham for use as a museum and study centre by Marjory Lees. The house was extended by JH Heywood with the addition of a rear wing to house the natural history collection. (Tithe Map, circa 1848; Lancashire Life: E.L. Briggs: Sarah's Reaching Hands: 1984-: 41; Anon.: Werneth Park Study Centre: Oldham).

Listing NGR: SD9152504034