Woburn Lower School

This is a school building, originally founded as a Free School Charity in 1582 by Francis Earl of Bedford and constructed at that time. It was reworked around 1830 by Edward Blore, with later alterations in the late 19th century. The building is constructed of coursed ironstone with ashlar dressings, and has a clay tile roof. Originally a substantial rectangular structure of two storeys and attics, the first floor has since been removed.

The south elevation features, on the ground and first floors, two four-light stone mullioned windows to each level. The attic has four gabled dormers, added by Blore, each containing a two-light mullioned window with moulded surrounds, drop finials, and gables with moulded bargeboards and finials. All windows have leaded lights. To the right is a late 19th century gabled porch with a four-centred-arched doorway, surmounted by a carved panel depicting the Bedford crest. A late 19th-century integral chimney stack rises to the centre, topped with a pair of octagonal red brick shafts with moulded bases and caps. This replaces a central mullioned window that previously existed on both the ground and first floors. Original gable end and ridge stacks have been removed. Moulded stone coping is present on both gables and the porch. The west gable end contains two three-light mullioned windows to the first floor, and a small blocked two-light mullioned window in the attic. The east gable end has a three-light mullioned window on the first floor and a blocked two-light mullioned window in the attic.

Adjoining the main building to the ground floor and projecting onto the road is a small gabled block also by Blore, which may have originally served as a bier house for the church, later used as a fire station from the late 1860s to the late 1930s, before becoming part of the school. The road frontage features a central gable with a four-centred arch containing double doors, surmounted by an image in a niche flanked by two panels depicting shields. Flanking this are two short stretches of ironstone wall with ashlar dressings. The left-hand section contains a plank door in a moulded square-headed surround and terminates in a pier with a cusped recessed panel, moulded cornice, and pyramidal cap. The right-hand section contains a similar doorway, along with a later addition.

Inside, the north wall has two late doorways at each end, above which are two early fireplaces with moulded four-centred-arched heads.