Silcoates House and School

Silcoates House and School is a house and school complex, with the main house dating to circa 1748 and the school buildings largely from the 1870s, 1907, and subsequent years, all designed in a matching style. The construction is primarily brick with ashlar banding and dressings around the principal openings, and the roofs are covered in Welsh slate.

The main house is symmetrical, comprising a three-storey central range of three bays, flanked by two-storey side wings. The central bay features a recessed giant round-arched panel. A central round-arched doorway is supported by Tuscan engaged colonettes rising from a ground-floor sill band, culminating in a frieze and a triangular dentilled pediment. Two-storey canted bays extend from each side, each divided into three lights by colonettes and topped with ogee domed roofs. The canted bays contain twelve-pane sashes, while the upper floor has five six-pane sashes. Moulded brackets support the gutter, and there are lateral stacks. The roof is hipped. The side wings feature twelve-pane sashes.

The school buildings extend to the left, initially with a two-storey range of seven bays, incorporating ground-floor casements and first-floor sashes and casements. A projecting wing with a giant pedimented front and a giant Venetian window, flanked by paired Ionic pilasters, is situated between bays five and six. Foundation tablets are visible at the base, and an oculus is placed in the tympanum.

To the left of this is another three-storey range, likely dating back to the 1870s, closely resembling the main house but extended by two bays. Further ranges to the left and on the left return are in keeping with the overall design but are less architecturally significant. The rear of the house displays a central projecting wing with a round-arched stair window; later additions are also present.

According to reports, the interior of the house retains the original staircase and moulded ceilings, though it has not been inspected.

The house was formerly owned by the Lumb and Kendal families. In 1820, it was leased to Dissenters, who established the Yorkshire Dissenters' Grammar School. This evolved into the Congregational School for the Counties of York and Lancaster in 1831 and became the Northern Congregational School in 1832. Further building occurred in the 1870s, and the five-bay three-storey range may be a remnant of this period. A fire on April 13th, 1904, destroyed much of the school.