Former Magnus School And Adjoining Headmaster'S House And English School

Former Magnus School and adjoining Headmaster's House and English School, Newark on Trent

A former grammar school with adjoining headmaster's house and English school, now serving as the District Education Office and Newark Museum. The complex was founded in 1529 by the Reverend Thomas Magnus and built from 1532. The headmaster's house was constructed in 1817 by John Sadler Shepherd, and the English School was added in 1835. A further addition dates to 1835 and was raised in 1902. The buildings were restored in 1912.

The former grammar school is constructed of coursed rubble and brick with ashlar dressings, and timber box framing with rendered nogging beneath a plain tile roof. The street front, set back from the road and positioned to the right of the headmaster's house, features a 3-light mullioned window with a single light window to its right. Below these is a reset chamfered segmental pointed street gateway with 2-leaf fielded panelled door, above which is mounted a cove-cornered tablet inscribed "This Grammar School was founded by the Revd. Thomas Magnus 1529". To the left stands a blocked Tudor arched doorway with hood mould.

The rear range, formerly the main hall, has a plinth and quoins. It rises to 2 storeys plus attics in a 7-window range of cross-mullioned and single-light windows, all chamfered. Above are 4 raking dormers, the inner pair with 3 lights and the outer pair with 2 lights. Below, to the left, is a 16th-century segmental pointed arch with hood mould and renewed weatherstripped door. To its right are a cross-mullioned window and a smaller mullioned window, both chamfered. The north-east gable features a restored gabled 16th-century chimney stack of brick and stone with slated flanks, quoins and a crowstepped gable with kneelers, supporting 3 restored octagonal coped shafts with traceried panels.

The interior of the main hall contains at its north-east end a box-framed overhanging room with arch braces, with a 16th-century elliptical-headed doorway below it to the north-west. A cross-beam ceiling runs throughout. At the south-west end is a framed newel winder stair and a Tudor arched stone doorcase. The roof is of butt purlin principal rafter construction with arched collars.

The headmaster's house fronts the street in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. It has a plinth, first and second floor bands, a wooden eaves cornice and coped parapet. Windows are topped by rubbed brick heads. The building rises to 3 storeys with a 5-window range of glazing bar sashes, the central pair being round-headed and projecting beneath a pediment. Above are 5 similar smaller windows. A moulded central doorcase with pilasters and open pediment on curved brackets leads to a fielded 6-panel door with fanlight, flanked by 2 sashes. The left gable contains a fielded 6-panel door with overlight and segmental head, and mostly late 20th-century fenestration.

The interior features a central stairwell with enriched cornice on the first floor and a wooden cantilever stair with stick balusters and ramped scrolled handrail. Moulded doorcases with cornice and paterae are present throughout. The left front room contains similar doorcases and a marble fireplace with Tuscan columns. An open well winder rear stair with stick balusters is also provided.

The English School is a single-storey structure of brick with a hipped pantile roof, half-round dentillated eaves, and single gable and single side wall stacks. The north-west end facing the street has an off-centre porch of approximately 1912, featuring a shaped coped gable with crest and ball finials. To its left are 4 small casements. The north-east side has a central lean-to projection flanked by 2 segment-headed glazing bar sashes. The south-west side contains 5 similar windows and a blocked door to their right. The interior features a deep coved cornice with latticed ventilators. The north-east side has an elliptical arched master's alcove with fluted pilasters and moulded keystone.

A 2-storey addition to the south-east is constructed of brick with a pyramidal pantile roof, plinth, first floor band, second floor sill band and segment-headed windows. The south-east front displays 2 glazing bar sashes with a datestone inscribed 1902 between them. Below is a central chamfered round-headed doorway with blank fanlight and fielded panelled door, flanked by single round-headed sashes with Gothic glazing bars. An inscribed datestone reading 1835 appears above the door. The south-west side has 2 glazing bar sashes on each floor, with the upper right window blank. The north-east side has similar fenestration with both upper windows blank.