The Bishop Wilson Memorial Library

Primary school library, 1983 to 1986 to the design of the architects Colin St John Wilson and partners.

MATERIALS: tapered slate roof coverings and a lead cap, banded red brick laid to Flemish bond with coloured mortar to match. Inside, a steel frame supports a pressed steel panel canopy below the library lantern. Windows are timber-framed throughout, except in the library lantern which is powder-coated aluminium.

PLAN: circular on plan, linked to the school's south elevation by a small rectangular vestibule.

EXTERIOR: the circular library extends from the middle of the south elevation of the school with a continuation of the shallow brick plinth that carries around the building. Its single-storey drum with four square four-light windows supports a truncated conical roof of graded and tapered slates, surmounted by a cylindrical lantern of alternating fixed and casement windows, capped by a slate and lead cone with a pinnacle.

INTERIOR: the circular library is attached to the school's south range by a short link that forms a vestibule between the south range corridor and the library building. The vestibule comprises, to the west, a dwarf wall in red brick laid to stretcher bond with fixed glazing above and to the east a door leading to the school playground. A wooden panel displayed on the vestibule’s north-west brick pier lists teachers from 1947 to 1968 with university degrees. Above the library’s double-leaf doors a memorial plaque records the dedication of the building to Bishop Wilson, its presentation to the Diocese of Chelmsford by the former members of St Monica’s School, Clacton, and the architect’s details. The red-painted doors, each with a circular door light, lead into the single space (7.8m diameter).

Inside, the doorway is emphasised by a simple pedimented door frame. Four fixed rectangular reading desks radiate from the central space, terminating against the outer wall below square four-light fixed windows. Seating includes original three-legged stools with round seats, in plywood, and a range of new stools in mixed materials. Curving shelves fill the wall space between the desks, whilst display boards cover the walls between the windows. Portable shelving blocks, designed to stand on the desk ends, currently (2019) stand on the floor. The door frame, desks, shelves and the wall coverings framing the display boards are painted bright yellow. Pairs of bright red-painted columns rise from either side of the inner ends of the desks, supporting the lantern above. A further pair of vertical steel members rises from the inner end of each desk, carrying a horizontal frame with strip lights over each desk and supporting the central pressed-steel canopy. The canopy, purpose-made by a boat-builder in Harwich, forms an inner dome below the lantern, as a truncated octagon with an oculus. Each panel in the blue-painted canopy is pierced by circles arranged in the shape of a zodiac constellation.