Harecroft School

Harecroft School is an Italianate villa, now serving as a school, believed to have been designed by Algenon Peckover between 1840 and 1850. The building is constructed of yellow gault brick with stone details and features hipped slate roofs with symmetrical stacks. It stands three storeys tall with a half basement and includes a two-storey wing on the south-west side.

In around 1904, schoolroom additions were made to the north-east, replacing a matching original wing. A stone cill band runs along the first floor, and the deep boarded eaves are decorated with scroll enrichment on the plastered frieze band, which is also repeated on the wing. The second floor has five recessed hung sash windows set in cambered gauged brick arches, while the first floor features five larger twelve-paned windows and four similar windows on the ground floor.

Access to the entrance is via seven stone steps leading to a basement forecourt, which is enclosed by a curving ornamental railing. The entrance is marked by a limestone doorcase with a moulded impost, a round-headed arch, and a key block, leading to an eight-panelled door topped with a round-headed fanlight. The contemporary wing has a pedimented gable and a side entrance located in a corner porch, featuring a six-panelled door within a round-headed arch and a fanlight above. There are also two hung sash windows in a recessed two-storey arch, with the first-floor window shaped to a round-headed arch. A blind arch on the south-west side balances the porch.