School House

This is a former detached house, now incorporated into a school. It was originally built in the late 17th century, with a significant phase of rebuilding and refronting in the mid-18th century, and further substantial alterations around 1890 by G.W. Sibley. The building is constructed of coursed rubble and ashlar limestone with rendered areas, and has rebuilt artificial stone chimneys and a stone and Welsh slate roof. It is two storeys with an attic, built around an internal courtyard. A late 19th-century gabled classroom block at the east end is not of architectural significance.

The front facade has two unequal pedimented gable ends flanking a central, symmetrical section with a three-window arrangement. The central section features tripartite sash windows, and a projecting Tuscan porch with a moulded cornice and blocking course. A small panelled centrepiece sits within the main parapet, supported by scrolled elements. The left gable has a two-window sash arrangement with beaded architraves, and a small two-light window with round-arched heads in a dentil-enriched open pediment to the attic. The right gable has a larger pediment with an attic window flanked by sashes and an oculus. Below, there are two tripartite sash windows. The west side has a mid-18th century section to the left with a four-window upper floor sash arrangement, all 12-pane with thick glazing bars and keyed beaded architraves. Three eaves-mounted hipped roof dormers were added around 1890. To the right is an early 19th-century alteration with a six-window sash arrangement, featuring outer four-pane sashes and others 12-pane with plain beaded architraves, a central dividing element, corner pilasters, a plain upper floor band, and hollow-moulded eaves. Two 19th-century gabled roof dormers are present here too. The rear has a large angled gable with a plain four-pane sash window. A brick linking range connects to a stone gable end of a wing raised around 1890.

Inside, two rooms retain good 18th-century panelling, particularly notable on the upper floor with a Doric chimneypiece and dentil cornice. A later panelled room on the ground floor features niches either side of the chimney breast. A late 19th-century staircase has a cast-iron balustrade. The building originally served as the main structure for Wycliffe College, founded by G.W. Sibley in 1882. An illustration of the building before the 1890 rebuilding is documented in “Stonehouse: a Pot-Pourri of the Past in Pictures.”