The Old Grammar School And Grammar School House And Attached Wall And Railings

The Old Grammar School and Grammar School House, Kirby Hill Village Green

A combined school and master's house with attached wall and railings, originally founded around 1556 by Reverend John Dakyn DD as part of a larger charitable foundation that included the Hospital of St John the Baptist. The main range was constructed for Reverend Dakyn, with an early 18th-century addition to the house and early 19th-century wall and railings.

The building comprises a 2-storey structure with partial attic and partial basement. The master's house occupies the left section as a 2-bay range, whilst the school forms a 3-bay section on the right. Construction is of rubble, partly coursed, with stone slate roofs and wrought-iron railings.

The elevation to The Green presents the master's house on the left as an 18th-century range of coursed rubble with quoins. Windows are 16-pane sash windows set in ashlar surrounds, formerly featuring flat-faced mullions. A sundial sits between the first-floor windows. The roofline carries shaped kneelers and ashlar coping, with end stacks completing the composition. To the left stands a recessed single-storey porch with quoins, a board door, and ashlar coping.

The school section displays, from left to right: a blocked ashlar doorway surround; a board door in ashlar surround with a 6-pane window above; a first-floor 3-light mullion window with round-arched lights and indented spandrels; a 16-pane ground-floor sash window in ashlar surround with a blocked fire window to its right; a first-floor chamfered vent; a 2-light mullion window matching the first-floor design; and a school bell mounted above. An external stack with cornice supports a 19th-century stable of 2 lower storeys, which projects from the building and is of no particular architectural distinction.

In front of the house runs a low wall of coursed rubble with canted coping, supporting plain railings with pointed bars. The wall rises in height and is topped with triangular coping, curving round to return toward the school, sweeping upward as it does so.

The rear elevation reveals quoins to the left and ashlar coping to the right. A projecting gabled stair turret occupies the right return, featuring a blocked first-floor vent. A blocked basement 2-light round-arched mullion window appears below a stepped buttress. Ground-floor fenestration includes multiple 2-light chamfered mullion windows with internal stanchions, separated by stepped buttresses. A 16-pane fixed-light window in ashlar surround and a 4-light mullion window with round-arched lights and indented spandrels occupy the first floor. A 16-pane sash dormer window appears above. Further along stand additional 2-light chamfered mullion windows at ground floor, followed by a 19th-century sash window with glazing bars to the staircase, a 2-light first-floor mullion window with round-arched lights, and a 16-pane ground-floor sash window in ashlar surround. The elevation concludes with a round-arched ground-floor window surmounted by a pedimented surround containing a tablet commemorating Reverend Robert Blackett of Durham (died 1829), above which are a 4-pane sash window in an early 18th-century ashlar surround and a 16-pane sash window. Ashlar coping and an end stack terminate this section.

The right return of the school features stepped buttresses flanking 20th-century 20-pane sash windows on each floor, with a 4-pane fixed-light window set within a 2-light chamfered mullion window in the gable. The house's right return displays a 6-fielded-panel door beneath a 4-pane overlight in ashlar surround at ground level, with a 16-pane sash window above at first-floor level. The left return of the house incorporates two ground-floor round-arched windows to the 18th-century range. To the 16th-century range, a single-storey porch has been constructed around an external stack, which extends on corbels at first-floor level.

Interior details of the house include doors and doorlinings of 6 fielded panels. A recess in the front-left room likely represents the position of the original doorway. An early 19th-century dogleg staircase with stick balusters and turned newels occupies the house. The school's stair turret contains a winder staircase.

Reverend John Dakyn was rector of the parish and one of Henry VIII's Commissioners charged with inquiring into the income of religious houses. He later became one of Queen Mary's persecutors of Protestant martyrs.