Latin House

Latin House is a school house, later adapted for residential use, built in 1706. Subsequent minor alterations occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was commissioned by Elizabeth Grey of Risley Hall. The building is constructed of red brick, with vitrified headers to the ground floor and fine red brick to the first floor, and features ashlar dressings. It has a brick plinth with chamfered stone copings, a plain stone band to the first floor, rusticated stone quoins, and an elaborately moulded stone cornice that projects forward over the quoins and over each keystone of the upper windows on both the south and east elevations. The roof is hipped, covered in plain tiles, and has large, cross-sectioned brick ridge stacks with stone bands.

The building has a square plan, consisting of five bays by four bays, with a basement, two storeys, and garrets. A grand main elevation is approached by four semi-circular steps leading to a central doorcase topped with a large, moulded, broken, segmental pediment. The pediment corners project and are supported by acanthus consoles, displaying a central achievement of the Willoughby family. The outer jambs of the doorcase have a raised fillet, and the frieze displays the inscription ‘A MA PUISSANCE MDCCVI’ and carved initials. The original double, raised and fielded panelled doors are set within a moulded eared surround. Flanking the door are pairs of glazing bar sashes in bolection moulded eared surrounds, each featuring a raised keystone carved with the head of a season, plain friezes, and cornice-like dripmoulds projecting over the keystones. Above, five glazing bar sashes are set in moulded eared surrounds, each keystone bearing a grotesque head; the central window has an additional moulding.

The east elevation features four blocked windows beneath flat, gauged brick arches with raised, corniced keystones. One ground floor window has been partly cut into by a later glazing bar sash. Above, there are three further blocked windows and one glazing bar sash to the north. These upper windows are also under flat brick arches but have stone console keystones. Two pedimented roof dormers with glazing bar casements are situated above these. The west elevation exhibits a similar window pattern, except one ground floor window has been replaced with a plain doorcase.

The interior is notably plain. Many rooms retain their original bolection moulded fireplaces with later 18th-century grates and feature stopped, chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. The staircase is largely reconstructed, incorporating the original handrail. The south door is entirely blocked internally by a wall, though a curved central lobby on the first floor indicates the original plan for the ground floor. Original roof timbers are visible in the garrets.