Milton Abbey School

Milton Abbey School is a country house, built between 1771 and 1776 for Joseph Dames. The architects were Sir William Chambers and James Wyatt, and the building replaced domestic buildings on the site of the former Milton Abbey, retaining only the Hall (listed separately). The main construction is of ashlar stone with slate and lead roofs, and features ashlar stacks, some designed as pinnacles. The building is arranged around a quadrangular plan, with the Hall forming the south range.

The architecture is in an early Gothic Revival style, with portions of the building two storeys high and others three storeys high. The north front has projecting towers at each end and a central porch tower. The porch features a four-centred archway leading to a courtyard, set within a square frame and flanked by pilasters, with shields in the spandrels. On either side of the porch are three-sided canted bays that rise to three storeys, topped by a pierced parapet with quatrefoils and a moulded cornice. Moulded string courses mark each floor level. A sash window with Gothic glazing is centrally positioned on the second floor. Each bay contains three oval openings: centre openings have windows, while the others are blank. The first floor features a four-centred arched sash with glazing bars in the centre, and flanking openings, with sashes and glazing bars. The ground floor mirrors this with four-centred arched sashes with glazing bars. Between the porch and the end towers, two-storeyed ranges are present, with battlemented parapets. Each floor of these ranges has three four-centred arched sashes with glazing bars. The end towers, of three storeys, have octagonal corner buttresses that rise as pinnacles. The second floor of each tower has a pierced parapet, quatrefoils and a square window flanked by a circular window on each side, all with glazing bars. The ground and first floors of each tower feature three four-centred arched sashes with glazing bars, the centre window being larger. Label moulds are present on the outer windows, and all windows have moulded surrounds. An archway to the courtyard has heavy timber doors. The courtyard is covered by a Gothic style plaster vault. The east wall is constructed of flint and stone banding. A 19th-century service wing is located at the south-east corner, also of flint and stone banding with a slate roof. A 20th-century wing sits at the north-east corner and is of unremarkable design. Internally, the main rooms in the west range contain fine original joinery and plasterwork in a classical style, while the rooms of the north range have simpler detailing. A stone cantilever staircase with ornamental iron balusters is also present. The east range was damaged by fire in 1956 and retains no original interior features. The building is remarkable for its early Gothic Revival design.