More information : Whaley Thorns Primary School was designed by the architect George H. Widdows (1871-1946) and was completed in 1928. 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.
The school is constructed of mostly plain brickwork, with minimal detailing including two courses of blue engineering brick at the base of the external walls, and soldier courses to window heads. The roof forms include hipped, half-hipped and gambrel, with full and half dormers and roof-lights, and plain pediment detail to the western ends of each wing. The roofing material is plain clay tile and the external gable stacks remain in situ and unaltered. The building has a V-shaped plan-form, whereby two wings extend from the corners of the central hall, with corridors and verandahs leading to a series of four classrooms. There have been various alterations including infilling of the verandahs (with the exception of the south-facing verandah of the southern wing), a number of extensions and changes to the fenestration including replacement of original windows with uPVC frames. The verandah piers are still visible.
Whaley Thorns Primary School was probably built as a seconday school with a 'V' shaped plan and, typically of Widdows' secondary schools, is larger than his elementary plan-types, with a greater variety of rooms, sizeable assembly halls, laboratories and art rooms as well as classrooms. These larger ensembles tend to have a greater architectural presence resulting from their size and the complexity of their plan forms. The school has been subject to various alterations and additions, which have compromised the original plan-form and design concept. There is a substantial, late 20th century three-bay entrance block at the front of the school (east side), which is attached via a small flat-roofed link section. All the verrandahs except the south-facing verandah to the southern wing have been infilled or partially infilled with a mixture of vertical timber boarding, metal framed and uPVC glazing. There are two flat-roofed, single-storey extensions to the western end of the north wing, which look to have been added in the mid 20th century. There is also extensive replacement of original windows throughout the building.
While original joinery and internal glazing exists, there are no interior features of interest and those verandahs that have been infilled have also been ceiled.
Original railings have been replaced with high post and wire mesh fencing.
This is an example of the 'V' plan-form, an unusual and innovative approach to school design and arguably one of the most interesting of Widdows' plans. There is one example of this plan-type (Cresswell Junior School), already listed at Grade II; a much earlier work, dating from 1912. Whaley Thorns Primary School dates from 1928 and does not represent any further advances or refinements to the plan-form. Therefore, this is not an early, rare or significant example of its type.
The building has been subject to additions and extensions over the years and has also suffered other alterations including infilling of the verandahs and replacement of original fenestration, all of which have detracted from the original architectural concept and integrity of the building. In pure architectural terms, the design of this building lacks the quality and finesse that is displayed elsewhere in the work of Widdows. The interior is equally undistinguished, particularly when compared to other examples, and despite some of the original fittings and fixtures remaining, these are not of interest in themselves.
In essence the only interest that can be attributed to Whaley Thorns Primary School is its unusual 'V' plan-form which is characteristic and key to the ideas and practice of George Widdows. However, given the level of alteration, it is considered that this alone is not sufficient reason for this building to be designated.
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)
|