Cranleigh School, Woodyer Buildings

Cranleigh School, Woodyer Buildings

A public school designed by William Woodyer and built in phases between 1863 and 1880 as funds allowed. The buildings comprise a Quadrangle with the Headmaster's House to the south west, the Chapel projecting to the east, and a projecting north east wing. The complex was completed in phases: the south and east ranges of the Quadrangle and Headmaster's House in 1865, the north and west ranges in 1868, the Chapel in 1869, the Clock Tower in 1870, the Science rooms, Library and Gymnasium in 1874, and the Quadrangle itself in 1880.

The buildings are constructed in asymmetrical Tudor style using red brick with black brick diaperwork decoration and stone dressings. The roofs are partly tiled and partly pantiled, with tall ribbed brick chimneystacks.

The principal front to the south comprises 2 storeys and attics with 9 windows. A projecting central gable features a double arched window to the attic, a 4-light mullion window to the first floor, and an arched doorcase below. On each side are 4 hipped dormers with mullioned and transomed windows, tall 4-light mullioned and transomed casements to the first floor, and ground floor windows with double arches. A central Clock Tower with a shingled spire supported on wooden piers sits above clock faces.

The Headmaster's House to the south west is asymmetrical, with its west side rising 2 storeys to attics and featuring irregular fenestration, including one hipped and 3 half-hipped dormers and a tall ribbed brick stack. A projecting gable to the right contains 2 paired lancet windows to the first floor and a square bay with a triple full-height window incorporating French doors to the ground floor, with an arched doorcase. Three further windows are located to the left. The south side has a 2-storey 6-light canted bay and 2 tall double mullioned and transomed windows to the ground floor.

The Chapel to the east features an elaborate transept with a rose window and arched doorcase. The nave has 6 double trefoliated windows to the clerestorey and 8 lancets to the aisle. The apsidal-ended chancel, standing the same height as the nave, is fitted with flying buttresses linked to an ambulatory.

The north east wing, dated 1873, projects with a gable to the left containing a large arched window to the first floor and 2 mullioned and transomed casements below. To the right are two 6-light mullioned and transomed windows with gables above. The east side features an oriel window. The north front rises 2 storeys to attics with 10 hipped dormers, 12 mullioned windows to the first floor, and lancet windows with an arched doorcase to the ground floor. A 20th-century full-height window has been inserted at the extreme left.

The West Quadrangle features 2 tiers of dormers to the Dormitory, 5 tall triple trefoliated arched windows to the Dining Hall, and a 20th-century corridor to the ground floor. The South Quadrangle has an off-central gable with mullioned windows and arched doorcase with bargeboards, 7 four-light gabled dormers, and 7 four-light mullioned windows to the first floor. The left side has 6 double trefoliated windows to the ground floor, whilst the right side accommodates a 20th-century corridor. The East Quadrangle features 5 hipped dormers with triple windows, 5 casements to the first floor, and 4 double trefoliated windows to the ground floor. The North Quadrangle has hipped dormers to the attic, 3-light mullioned windows to the first floor, and a 20th-century corridor to the ground floor.

Interior features include a dogleg staircase in the Headmaster's House with a circular newel post and solid bannisters pierced with circular holes, together with original fireplaces. The Dining Hall features a ceiling of tie beams supported on corbels, heraldic glass to the windows, and a baronial-style fireplace with a motto. The West Dormitory above has a roof of crownpost type with arched braces. The Main Staircase in the South Quadrangle, added in 1893, is executed in early 18th-century style with 2 turned balusters to each tread and an open well.

The Chapel contains an arcade supported on circular piers and an arch-braced roof. It features an elaborate carved reredos of 1881 by Woodyer and painted lettering in the ambulatory, the remainder of a larger decorative scheme of which the rest has been whitewashed over and was under restoration at the time of survey. The Library, part of Woodyer's original scheme, has undergone some subsequent alteration.