Ashfold School

Ashfold School (Dorton House)

A mansion dating from the early 17th century, constructed in 1626 as evidenced by a date on the staircase soffit, and subsequently altered in 1784. Built for Sir John Dormer, the house is now used as a school.

The building is constructed of red brick with a moulded ashlar plinth, ashlar quoins, and a first floor band course. The brick parapet is fitted with a moulded stone string below and stone coping. Tiled roofs are topped with brick chimneys featuring rows of octagonal shafts. The plan is U-shaped, comprising a central range of 5 bays flanked by gabled side wings of 4 bays, with square projections in the inner angles. A short wing extends to the rear. The building rises 2 storeys with a basement and attic, the central range slightly taller than the remainder.

The east front displays 17th-century moulded stone windows that have been altered to accommodate late 18th-century sashes, with mullions and transoms removed. The central range now has tripartite sashes in altered openings, those to the first floor set within wooden Venetian window frames with minimal Doric pilasters. The central upper window features a single arched sash in a matching wooden frame, with a heraldic stone tablet in the parapet above. The front gables of the side wings have similar Venetian windows to the first floor and oval windows in moulded stone frames to the attic. Paired sashes light the central bays of the side wings, with one in the right wing altered to a half-glazed door. The basement is lit by moulded stone mullion windows, 4-light to the central range and 2-light to the sides. The central range also features 20th-century hipped dormers. A central 20th-century door sits within a restored stone arch, preceded by a late 18th-century pedimented Doric porch.

The north front has 5 wide bays, with the outer bays slightly advanced and featuring canted bay windows, and the centre bay a square projection. The original fenestration retains moulded stone mullions and transoms, with ground floor windows double transomed and each window formed as a paired cross casement. The west front is irregularly gabled and includes a rectangular oriel window to the left, a 20th-century central porch, and a small 20th-century extension in the angle with the rear wing to the right. The long south front is also irregular, featuring a central porch with 17th-century stone arches—two semi-circular and one 4-centred with carved spandrels.

The interior preserves significant early 17th-century features. The central screens passage retains 17th-century panelling. The hall contains a very fine early 17th-century panelled screen with Ionic pilasters, a carved frieze, and elaborate strapwork crests, complemented by 17th-century panelling to the lower walls and a moulded stone fireplace with a 4-centred arch and plaster cartouche overmantel. The passage to the rear of the central wing and the door to the north-west room feature semi-circular stone arches with scrolled keyblocks and ornamental coffering to the soffits.

The fine staircase in the north wing has turned balusters, a moulded handrail, stop-chamfered newels with moulded finials and pendants, and an entrance screen with 2 arches on Ionic columns. An elaborate 17th-century plaster ceiling crowns this space. Similar plaster ceilings appear in a ground floor room in the north wing and in first floor rooms in the central range. One of the latter rooms, probably the withdrawing room, also preserves 17th-century panelling and a good wooden fireplace with a panelled overmantel and strapwork crests. The former long gallery in the north wing features a plain vaulted plaster ceiling. A 17th-century back staircase with moulded square balusters and a modillion handrail is present, as is another 17th-century winder staircase with splat balusters in the south wing.