The Old Grammar School (Now the School Library) is a Grade II* listed building in the Yorkshire Dales National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 March 1954. Grammar school, library.
The Old Grammar School (Now the School Library)
- WRENN ID
- calm-render-myrtle
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Yorkshire Dales National Park
- Constituency
- Morecambe and Lunesdale MP: Lizzi Collinge (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 16 March 1954
- Type
- Grammar school, library
- Address
- The Old Grammar School (Now the School Library), Back Lane, Sedbergh, Westmorland and Furness
- OS grid reference
- SD 657 920
- Coordinates
- 54.3227, -2.5277
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Grammar School, now the School Library, is a grammar school building dated 1716, located on Back Lane in Sedbergh. It was altered in the 19th century and internally remodelled in 1957-8 by Sir Albert Richardson. The structure is built of random rubble with lacing courses, featuring freestone quoins and dressings, and has a stone slate roof. It has a rectangular plan oriented east-west, with the original entrance located in the west gable end.
The building is two storeys high. The gabled west front has raised rusticated quoins, a plain string-course at the first floor level, and a band over the upper floor. It features gable copings with kneelers and a corniced gable chimney. The round-headed doorway, now blocked internally, has pilaster jambs, moulded imposts, and a moulded head with a keystone. The double doors each have two bolection-moulded panels and are topped by a fanlight with radiating glazing bars. The doorway is framed by a pilastered architrave with entablatures inscribed "17" on the left and "16" on the right, a triglyph frieze, and a segmental pediment. Above, there is a rectangular wall tablet with a moulded surround and cornice, which contains a carved shield.
The north and south side walls each have seven very regular round-headed windows on both floors, with the lower windows being much taller than the upper ones. All windows have raised sills and pilastered architraves with imposts and keystones, and feature renewed wooden mullions and transoms with small-paned leaded glazing. Both sides have moulded gutters supported by curved metal brackets, and the south side includes one rainwater head positioned between the fourth and fifth windows. The east gable end mirrors the west end with its gable copings and chimney, and it also features an ex situ 17th-century doorway and door.
Inside, the ground floor has been remodelled with a lowered ceiling and the insertion of galleries. A restored dog-legged staircase at the east end features a closed string, square newels with ball finials, turned balusters, and a moulded handrail.
Local climate
The Old Grammar School (Now the School Library) sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,350 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 96% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 93% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 59 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 98% of listed buildings. Of these, 36 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.
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- No EPC on record for this property
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
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