More information : Bolsover Infants School, Welbeck Road was designed by the architect George H. Widdows (1871-1946) and was completed in 1907. It was one of a large number of new schools built to Widdows' designs by Derbyshire County Council in the early 20th century. Derbyshire had the greatest percentage increase in population in the country in the 1890s, particularly due to the growth of the coal mining and textile manufacturing communities in the east of the county. Widdows had come to Derbyshire in 1897 as Chief Architectural Assistant to the Derby Corporation. Following the 1902 Education Act, responsibility for schools in the county passed to Derbyshire County Council. In 1904 Widdows was appointed architect to the Council's Education Committee. In 1910 he was appointed Chief Architect to the Council, although schools remained his predominant concern. By the time he retired in 1936, he had designed some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools.
Widdows was at the forefront of the movement to build schools in which high standards of hygiene were as important as educational provision following 1907 when the Board of Health brought in legislation which required schools to become subject to regular medical inspections. Widdows worked with his Medical Officer, Sidney Barwise, and two deputy architects, C. A. Edeson and T. Walker, to develop a series of innovative designs introducing high levels of natural daylight and effective cross ventilation in schools. His designs, in a neo-vernacular style, were characterised by open verandah-style corridors linking classrooms with generous full-height windows. His distinctive and influential plan forms were based on a linear module which could be arranged in different configurations to suit the size of school required and the shape of the available site. This was a significant move away from the standard Board School plan introduced by E. R. Robson, with its central assembly hall and classrooms to three sides.
Widdows' pre-1914 elementary schools can be broadly divided into four plan types, Bolsover Infants School being an early example of the 'marching corridor' type, with corridors wide enough for boys to perform drill. The concern over the physical fitness of schoolchildren emanated from the Boer War of 1899-1902, when over a third of the men called up to fight were found to be physically unfit.
The school is mostly constructed of plain brickwork in a mix of red brick laid in English Bond, with the first eight courses in blue engineering brick. Each gable has a pair of kneelers, corbelling detail and recessed semi-circular brick-arch over the larger central window. All other windows have plain soldier courses over and chamfered brick sill detail. At the head of each gable is a triptych of stepped breathers. The roof covering is a plain, clay tile, and the ridge is left plain. The plan-form comprises a corridor which constitutes the central spine of the school, and has three cross-wings projecting on either long side in order to achieve cross-lighting and cross-ventilation. The original plan-form has since been compromised with various infill of the later 20th century, and assorted accretions as detailed above.
The school at Bolsover has been subject to a number of later alterations and additions over the last forty years. The verandahs have been infilled and extended towards the playground between the western and central cross-wings with timber boarding arranged in a herringbone pattern. There is a set of double entrance doors within the southern section of infill. To the northern elevation there are 3 new uPVC casement windows within the timber infill. There is also a substantial single-storey extension to the southern elevation between the main spine of the building and the eastern cross-wing. The extension is clad in vertical timber boarding, has no windows and appears to have a storage function. There is also a single-storey extension to the kitchen at the northern end of the east elevation. The extension is faced in modern brick, which is a poor match with the original brick of the main building. Some of the chimney stacks have pots missing. Some of the original windows have been replaced with uPVC frames and there is also a small amount of uPVC ducting to the central gable (south elevation) as well as some plant/air conditioning units visible on the flat roof of the verandah (south elevation). There is also evidence to suggest that an original external doorway has been bricked up.
All the verandahs have been infilled but it is possible to still see the piers complete with their plinths and braces. While some of the original timber windows are still in situ, a significant number have been replaced with uPVC frames as well as new and additional (uPVC) windows. Six external brick chimney stacks which rise to the ridge line survive, although some of their pots are missing.
The internal spaces and how they relate to each other are broadly unchanged. Much of the original internal joinery such as windows and doors survive, some with original brass door furniture. A number of hopper window frames also survive. Original half-height glazed tiling remains in some corridors, hall and staff areas, as well as some tiled fireplaces in the hall and head teacher's study. Also worthy of note is the original wood flooring which is visible in some parts of the school, banister detailing and raised diamond motif at cornice level, and console detail in some of the classrooms.
Bolsover Infants school dates from 1907 and is an early example George Widdows' of designs for school buildings that introduced the concepts of cross-lighting and cross-ventilation to improve the health and well-being of pupils. The school was originally designed with classrooms leading off a central corridor with open verandahs, and incorporated large windows to allow light into all three sides. It has some historic interest as an early example of the 'marching corridor' type, but the school has since undergone various alterations and extensions which have detracted from its originally simple form and symmetry. The verandahs have all been infilled, which has negated their sole intention and function, and removed part of the original spirit and concept of the architectural thinking and philosophy behind the design. While the building is considered to be a competent and well-executed design, it is arguably not Widdows at his most accomplished and lacks the architectural quality and finesse when compared to some of his later work or those of his schools that are already listed. SOURCES G. H. Widdows, 'Derbyshire Elementary Schools: Principles of Planning', paper presented to Royal Sanitary Institute on 25 February 1910, in Royal Sanitary Institute Journal (1910), 92-116. 'The Derbyshire Schools', The Builder, Vol. 105 (31 October 1913), 460-461. The Builder, Vol. 107 (10 July 1914), 44-45; (17 July 1914), 74-75. G. H. Widdows, 'School Design', RIBA Journal, Vol. 29, No. 2 (26 November 1921), 33-45. (1)
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