The Reading Room is a Grade II listed building in the Peak District National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 26 June 1984. Public building. 3 related planning applications.

The Reading Room

WRENN ID
eternal-passage-yew
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Peak District National Park
Constituency
High Peak MP: Jon Pearce (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
26 June 1984
Type
Public building
Address
The Reading Room, Peak Forest, High Peak
OS grid reference
SK 113 792
Coordinates
53.31013, -1.83145
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Reading Room is a public building dated 1880. It features an ashlar gritstone front with rusticated quoins, while the rest of the structure is made of rubble limestone with gritstone dressings. The north gable has moulded copings and an intermediate stone ridge stack, covered with Welsh slates that have crested ridges. The gable facing the street includes a tall Venetian window, which was originally part of a 17th-century chapel that stood on the adjacent site of the Church of King Charles the Martyr, and it now serves as the focal point of the elevation. A moulded stringcourse connects to the keyblock of the window arch. An inscription in the gable apex reads: '1880 READING ROOM'. There is also a single-storey addition from 1983 on the southeast side.

Local climate

The Reading Room sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,040 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 83% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 73% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 50 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 31 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 2 transactions since 1997
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings

  1. Church of King Charles the Martyr Grade II 68 m
  2. Chamberknoll Farmhouse and Attached Outbuilding Grade II 658 m
  3. Nether Barn Grade II 1.3 km
  4. Lee Farmhouse and Attached Outbuilding Grade II 1.8 km
  5. Perryfoot Farmhouse Grade II 2.4 km
  6. Bottom Farm Grade II 3.3 km
  7. Village Cross Grade II* 3.4 km
  8. Peakshill Farmhouse Grade II 3.4 km
  9. Rushup Hall Grade II 3.4 km
  10. Wheston Hall, Gate Piers and Boundary Walls Grade II 3.5 km