Stratford Preparatory School

Stratford Preparatory School, formerly known as The Croft School, is a house that has been converted into a school. It was built around 1690 with later additions made in 1836 for W Warry. The building is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings and features a hipped tile roof with three brick stacks. It has a double-depth plan and is designed in a Georgian style, standing two storeys high with an attic. The façade is symmetrical with a five-window range and a two-window addition to the left.

Key architectural details include a plaster plinth, rusticated quoins, and a top cornice with modillions. The former central entrance is now framed by a 19th-century porch that has large Tuscan angle pilasters and an entablature, leading to a six-flush-panel door with sidelights. The windows are designed with narrow sills, plastered reveals, and rubbed brick flat arches with ashlar keys above 12-pane sash windows. There are also four pedimented dormers featuring two-light small-paned casements.

The right side of the building has a roughcast return with an entrance that includes a nine-flush-panel door and varied window designs. The rear of the building has two wings, one of which has a hipped roof and 16-pane sash windows.

Inside, the ground-floor rooms are adorned with fielded panelling, cornices, dado, and window shutters, along with early 18th-century six-panel doors. The room on the right features moulded pilaster strips around the fireplace overmantel and later bookcases, while the left room has a bolection-moulded overmantel and a 19th-century black marble fireplace. The staircase at the rear has a cut string, column-on-vase balusters, and a moulded handrail. The first floor includes cornices above the windows, with one room having paired three-fielded-panel doors leading to a cupboard. The attic contains a re-used 17th-century door.