| Summary : The New MIlls School, formerly the New Mills Grammar School was designed by George H. Widdows and was completed in 1912. It was one of a large number of new schools built to Widdows' designs by Derbyshire County Council in the early 20th century. Widdows' pre-1914 designs were mainly for elementary schools and can be divided into four plan types. Some early secondary schools were built, and invariably larger and had a greater variety of rooms; the New Mills School is illustrative of the qualities of the larger ensembles. The New Mills School has external elevations of polygonal rubble Derbyshire gritstone with Welsh slate roof coverings.The interior elevations and the octagonal central hall are of red brick. The plan is quadrangular in form, with a central hall (now a library) linked to four outer ranges by stub corridors. The outer ranges have covered, and now enclosed, corridors providing access between the classrooms contained within the ranges, and access to and from the main entrances and the staff rooms. There are numerous ridge chimneys which served hearths in classrooms and staff rooms, and all the characteristic tall transomed window with hoppers associated with Widdows' designs. The main entrance is two-storied and has a barbican-like appearance. The interior retains some original fireplaces, fixtures and fittings including cupboards, honours boards and menorials, and a series of stained glass windows. Listed Grade II (Listed Building number 506407). |
More information : The New Mills School, formerly the New Mills Grammar School was designed by the architect George H. Widdows (1871-1946) and was completed in 1912. 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 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. The first major conference on school hygiene was held in 1904, and in 1907 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, often 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 designs were mainly for elementary schools, and can be broadly divided into four plan types. The earliest was the `marching corridor' type, but 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 earliest examples of this type date from around 1910-11. 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. Some early secondary schools were built, and were invariably larger and had a greater variety of rooms, with sizeable assembly halls, laboratories and art rooms as well as classrooms. The New Mills School is illustrative of the qualities of the larger ensembles in having a greater architectural presence resulting from its size and the complexity of its plan form.The school underwent considerable enlargement in the late 20th century, but this expansion took place on open ground to the west and south of the original complex, which remains substantially intact apart from internal modifications.
The advances Widdows made in school planning were recognised by his contemporaries. In an article on provincial school building in 1913, The Builder stated that his work 'constitutes a revolution in the planning and arrangement of school buildings... a real advance which places English school architecture without a rival in any European country or the United States.'
The New Mills School has external elevations of polygonal rubble Derbyshire gritstone with Welsh slate roof coverings. The interior elevations and the octagonal central hall are of red brick. The plan is quadrangular in form, with a central hall (now a library) linked to the four outer ranges by stub corridors. The outer ranges themselves have covered, and now enclosed, corridors providing cloister-like access between the classrooms contained within the ranges, and access to and from the main entrances and the staff rooms. The external detailing of the long single storey ranges is distinctive, with front and rear elevations having strong central and pavilion end architectural emphasis in ashlar stonework and side elevations with a 1:2:1:5:1:2:1 arrangement of bays, the single bays, including pavilion ends, breaking through the eaves line. There are numerous ridge chimneys which served hearths in classrooms and staff rooms, and the characteristic tall transomed window with hoppers associated with Widdows' designs throughout the county. The main entrance is two-storied and has a barbican-like appearance with squat towers flanking the wide central arched access to the entrance hall and the head teacher's study above. The inner entrance vestibule and the former hall contain the best interior fittings, the latter with honours boards and memorials and the school's most significant decorative features, a series of stained glass windows set in high level Diocletian windows, with five female figures representing the Arts, Literature, Music, Science and Engineering and a sixth window bearing the Royal Coat of Arms. Elsewhere, the head teacher's and staff rooms retain original fittings and fixtures including cupboards with glazed doors and good quality hearth surrounds. The classrooms are mainly of a standard form, with high level `hopper' frames to eaves level windows set above windows onto the corridors in the inner walls and tall transomed windows to the outer walls. Most classrooms were equipped with fireplaces, and these survive with well detailed surrounds, although most are now hidden by furniture and equipment. There are also two larger classrooms, possibly for science, woodwork or domestic science located in the side ranges of the quadrangle. Despite the significant enlargement of the school campus, the original quadrangular range retains its strong architectural and spatial characteristics and its plan remains clearly legible.
The New Mills School is a little altered example of a secondary school design by Widdows conceived in the earliest phase of the Derbyshire school building campaign. It is one of two surviving examples of Widdows enclosed quadrangular plan with a hall to its centre, the other being the Ilkeston Secondary School which is listed at Grade II. The only notable alteration to this distinctive plan form has been the enclosure of the quadrangle corridors, but this intervention has not materially affected the legibility of the original layout. The school has a consistently strong external architectural character, exemplified by the treatment of the main entrance, the pavilion-like end bays, canted mullioned and transomed bay windows and the tall outer classroom windows which break through the eaves line, all executed in local gritstone. The school's internal layout has undergone only minor modifications, with classrooms retaining many of their original fixtures and the distinctive window and door joinery which characterised so many of Widdows' designs. The administrative and staff room areas, like the classrooms retain much of their original character, with fireplaces, panelling and cupboards the most distinctive survivals. The focus of the school's layout remains the original central octagonal hall, now re-fitted as a library, but retaining the perimeter columns which flank the entrances from the quadrangle. Also retained are the honours boards and memorials to former pupils lost in combat, together with high quality decorative stained glass. New Mills School survives as a strongly detailed and distinctive example of Widdows' early work which has undergone little significant alteration and is clearly of listable quality. (1) |