Latin College And The Latin Cottage

The Latin College and the Latin Cottage, located on Derby Road in the parish of Risley, are a red brick building dating to circa 1720. The building was endowed by Elizabeth Grey of Risley Hall in her will of 1720. It stands on a sandstone ashlar plinth with chamfered copings, and has sandstone dressings. The steeply pitched plain tile roof has rounded stone copings and plain brick kneelers to the gables, with a stepped and dentilled brick eaves cornice. The building is single storey plus garrets, with a basement to the west due to the sloping ground. It is four bays wide.

The main elevation features steps leading up to a central doorcase with a wide, raised, plain stone surround with a chamfered inner edge, containing double, panelled 18th-century doors. This doorcase is set in a tall, flat-headed recess of similar width to the door, and the recess is as high as the very tall windows on either side. There are two two-light windows to either side, each spanning almost the full height of the building, with timber mullions and double transoms, under wedge stone lintels. The windows have 20th-century leaded lights, some fixed and some casements. The west gable wall has two similar windows, a blocked garret window above, and two plank doors in the basement. Windows on the west gable have dentilled bands above.

The eastern half of the building has been converted into a house and features an intermediate floor. The western room retains original 18th-century school fittings, which include oak benches against the north, south, and west walls, with raised and fielded panelled backs, and raised and fielded oak panelled bench-like desks along the north wall. A master's chair stands against the west wall, with a fluted pilastered over-panel topped by a stepped broken pediment, and a raised and fielded semi-circular headed central panel. A 18th-century fireplace is located in the centre of the north wall, featuring a bolection moulding which has been cut back and covered by a Victorian grate, although the original mantle shelf is still intact. The school was originally built as a pair to the Grammar School, and both buildings are shown on a 1722 map held at the Derbyshire County Record Office. However, the Derbyshire Victoria County History suggests the school was built in 1724, and the Grammar School in 1758.