More information : This school is being assessed for listing as part of an English Heritage thematic survey of the surviving schools designed by George Widdows in Derbyshire in 1906-1936. George H. Widdows (1871-1946) is nationally acknowledged as a leading and influential designer of schools in the early 20th century. He was appointed as architect to Derbyshire County Council's Education Committee in 1904, and in 1910 became Chief Architect to the Council. By the time he retired in 1936, he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools. Nine of these have already been listed.
Widdows responded to concerns about health and hygiene in schools by developing a series of revolutionary plan forms which introduced cross ventilation and natural daylight. His schools are characterised by open verandah corridors and large expanses of glazing, including hopper and pivot windows. There are four characteristic plans for the elementary schools built to his designs before 1914. The earliest was the 'marching corridor' type; only five schools were built to this experimental and rather expensive plan. The second type was linear in form, with a larger classroom at each end and often a freestanding hall with linking corridor to the rear. The third type was the most dramatic, a butterfly-shaped plan with pairs of classrooms leading from the corners of a central hall. The fourth type was designed for irregularly-shaped sites and had a corner hall, octagonal in plan. Widdows' designs for elementary schools in the inter-war period were often based on a collegiate system of quadrangle plans. His secondary schools were larger ensembles and tend to have a greater architectural presence. Assessment of these schools takes into account architectural quality and the extent to which the surviving fabric represents Widdows' design innovation in a national context.
Morton Primary School was built as a small board school in 1884. According to the historic OS maps, it was extended sometime between 1899 and 1916. In 1927 Widdows carried out alterations to the school, including the addition of a verandah on the west side which is visible on the 1938 OS map. Modern extensions have been built on the east and north sides. The school is constructed of red brick, with a slate roof. The plan form roughly follows that of Widdows' linear second type. The exterior is in a mixed style: the older Victorian parts have bargeboarding and stone lintels over the windows, while the 1927 adaptations have the verandah and tall stacks typical of Widdows' work. There is a plaque inscribed 'MORTON SCHOOLS 1884' in the south gable. The building has undergone numerous alterations including infilling of the verandah, replacement of all the window joinery with UPVC, and alteration of the openings.
This school is an example of the adaptation works Widdows carried out to existing Victorian board schools. As such it is of less interest than the schools designed by Widdows in their entirety. In a paper he presented to the Royal Sanitary Institute on 25 February 1910, Widdows complained that his most troublesome problems were with existing schools; clearly he preferred to design from new than to adapt an existing school. This school lacks definite architectural quality, and has undergone numerous alterations and extensions. Morton Primary School does not have special architectural or historic interest on a national level either in the context of 19th century school building or within the scope of George Widdows' school design, and therefore does not fulfil the criteria for listing. (1)
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