Ripley St Thomas'S School, Original School Building

LANCASTER

SD46SE ASHTON ROAD 1685-1/1/8 (West side) 18/02/70 Ripley St Thomas' School, original school building

GV II

Orphanage, now part of school. 1856-64, additions 1885, altered c1965. Design by J Cunningham at the expense of Mrs Julia Ripley, with additions by Paley and Austin. Polygonal sandstone masonry with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. E-plan, with wings projecting on the north side, the east wing now truncated, and with additions projecting towards the west from the west wing. Gothic Revival style. In the centre is a tall tower rising between 2 identical gabled 3-storey wings, their gables now re-modelled. The windows all have pointed lights. Each wing has 2 windows of one light on the ground floor. Canted oriel windows rise through the 1st and 2nd floors. The recessed tower rises in the centre and has 3 tall lancet openings to its upper stage, and a shield of arms carved on its embattled parapet. At ground floor level is the main entrance, with a shallow 2-centred arch spanning between the wings and supporting a parapet pierced with quatrefoils. The inner doorway is also pointed and contains timber doors within a screen of coloured glass. To each side are links of 2 storeys and 6 bays separated by buttresses. The ground-floor arcades are now glazed and the 1st floor windows are C20 in reconstructed rectangular chamfered stone surrounds. East wing now mostly demolished, with one bay of 2 storeys remaining. West wing also now of 2 storeys, and of 6 bays with a projecting stair turret towards the N end of the east wall. The 1885 additions have 2 gabled bays facing north which have 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery in pointed heads. At the west end a wing projects towards the N and has 2 windows of 2 lights with Perpendicular tracery in its N gable wall, separated by a buttress. The E wall of this wing contains a doorway with the date '1885' carved above. HISTORY: the Ripley Hospital was erected for the education and maintenance of 300 orphaned and fatherless children of Lancaster and Liverpool, with accommodation divided symmetrically between boys and girls. In 1885 additions and alterations by Paley and Austin were begun. These included the Chapel (qv) and new schools and classrooms. (Cross Fleury (pseud.): Time-Honoured Lancaster: Lancaster: 1891-: 395-398).

Listing NGR: SD4755360657