Pierrepont School

Pierrepont School is a country house, now operating as a private school, built between 1876 and 1878 around an older structure. The design was by Richard Norman Shaw for Richard Henry Combe, with later 19th-century extensions to the east. The construction utilises sandstone rubble with brick dressings and angle quoins, set upon an oak timber frame beneath plain tiled roofs. The building exhibits a complex, rambling plan including a service courtyard to the east. It is two storeys and attics in height, distinguished by tall corbelled and ribbed brick stacks, some diagonal to the ends and centre, and a square lantern on the Hall roof.

The main north front is slightly V-shaped, featuring five gables across a coved jetty supported by a moulded bressumer. Casement windows are placed within each gable, with those in the two left-hand gables resting upon the bressumer. A further three windows are situated higher to the right. The first floor displays irregular wood-framed, leaded casement windows arranged in a seven-window pattern, while the ground floor features five stone-dressed windows. A mullioned and transomed leaded window, with patterned glazing providing light to the Hall range, is recessed behind a pentice bay on the right-hand side. A large mullioned and transomed leaded casement window is centrally located on the ground floor. A porch recess, sheltered by a cambered wooden lintel, is situated to the right of the centre. Tiled offset detailing is present to the plinth wall of the windows, flanking the four-centre arched, double doors. Single-storey extensions extend to the left.

The east return front exhibits a patterned frame within the gable end of the Hall, along with three stone buttresses below. A further gable projects to the right. The south front (rear) features a large canted oriel window illuminating the Hall, incorporating decorative glazing and a patterned frame within the gable above the Hall range, which is set back to the left. An angle bay projects under a gable to the left of centre, topped with a square oriel on a cove to the first floor, featuring a leaded window above. A further angle bay projects to the right end.

The interior is characterised by most rooms and a staircase extending from a single spine corridor. The Great Hall has two storeys, featuring a tall, collar-braced roof with a central louvre, and three framed bays with windbracing. The Hall contains a large stone fireplace and extensive panelling, along with armorial stained glass within the oriel window. The Hall screen remains intact. The staircase reveals a panelled staircase hall with an arched roof, incorporating turned balusters. Many rooms retain original panelling and tooled leather decoration, as well as panelled ceilings. The Library displays a fine panelled and gilt ceiling, while the Reference Library features a simple panelled roof and a fine Dutch Gothic darkwood fireplace.