The Dcc Library

The DCC Library, formerly known as The Manor House, is a County Council Library located in Dronfield, dating back to around 1700, with later alterations and additions. It was converted into a library and offices in 1967. The building is constructed from coursed squared coal measures sandstone with ashlar dressings, rising from a shallow chamfered plinth. It features a moulded eaves cornice with bold brackets and a hipped slated roof.

The structure is two storeys high with a basement and consists of seven bays arranged in a 3-1-3 pattern. The entrance porch is advanced and two storeys tall, with a doorway that has a semi-circular headed moulded surround, impost blocks, and a keyblock, flanked by pilasters and topped with a flattened pulvinated entablature. The window openings, which were originally 2-light flush mullions with transoms, now contain glazing bar sashes with four panes each, set in old stone surrounds. A moulded stringcourse runs along the heads of the ground floor windows, and the entrance is approached by semi-circular steps.

The rear and north elevations still show mullioned and transomed openings. Inside, the building has been significantly altered but retains 17th-century square oak panelling and a 17th-century oak turned baluster staircase with ball finials on the posts and a moulded handrail. The house was originally built for Ralph Burton, Lord of the Manor, whose father, Francis, purchased the earlier house from Lionel Fanshawe in 1674. It later passed to the Rossington family and was sold to John Rotherham in 1750, before being inherited by Joseph Cecil in 1295. The local authority acquired the property in the 1930s.