Beckminster House

Beckminster House is a large house, dating from around 1845 and subsequently altered, now used as a teachers’ centre. It was built for John William Sparrow, a local iron-master. The house is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings and blue-brick diaper work, and has a patterned red and blue tile roof. It is arranged over two storeys and an attic, with an asymmetrical four-bay front to a double-depth plan and a central stair hall. The architectural style is Tudor Revival.

The house has a chamfered plinth, ashlar quoins, and square-headed mullioned and transomed windows, most of which have hoodmoulds. A central ashlar porch has a double-chamfered, two-centred arch with carved hoodmould stops and blind-traceried spandrels; stained glass is set into lancet windows on each return, and the parapet has roll-moulded copings that step over a blank shield. Bay 4 projects and is gabled, featuring a three-light window within diaperwork and a two-light window to the attic. To the left of the porch are two single-light windows to each floor, with a cross-window above the porch. Bay 1 is also gabled and has a lateral stack with quoins and offsets, although the chimney shafts are missing. Both gables have kneelers and copings, and the main roof between them has two roof dormers and ornate stacks to the ridge, with others to the rear.

The rear elevation features an ashlar bay-window on the ground floor to the left. A projection on the right has corbelled corner details and a gabled half-dormer to a hipped roof with an iron finial. The right return has five bays; the gabled centre breaks forward and features a transomed three-light stair-window with Gothic Revival tracery and leaded lights.

Inside, a Gothic Revival wooden staircase has spiral-turned balusters linked by cusped arches under a moulded handrail. The square newels have sunken panels with finials and pendants. The stair-hall features a painted ashlar fireplace with a shield, ribbons, and sunken quatrefoils. Principal rooms to the front-right and rear-right have excellent fireplaces; one has an iron grate with tile insets in a white marble surround with a two-centred arch and traceried spandrels, and the other is of dark crinoidal limestone in a similar style. On the first floor, an octagonal ceiling panel is found on the landing, and there are several marble fireplaces with shields.