More information : Whaley Bridge School was designed by the architect George H. Widdows (1871-1946) and was completed in1911. 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, with Whaley Bridge Primary School representative of his linear design, typically 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 original doubled-ended T-shaped plan-form of the school has long since been subsumed by a considerable amount of extension and infilling from the post-war years onwards, and is no longer easily legible.
The school is faced in rubble grit stone with dressed-stone window surrounds and quoins, and chequer-work detailing to the upper part of the gable ends. Windows have segmental arched heads of rock-faced stone with keystone and sills of dressed stone. The roof covering is plain clay tile. The building was constructed with a double-ended T shaped plan, with the longer of the two cross-wings forming the frontage block, but it has undergone substantial alteration and modern extensions.
The principal elevation contains a central, combined double gable of two-storeys either side of which are large, full height half-dormers with hipped roofs, each with ball finials. At each end of this range are substantial gable-ended cross-wings each containing a large central window of 42 panes, with twelve pane windows either side. The tops of these cross-wings rise above the main ridge-line of the building, reminiscent of 'bookends'. A pitched-roof extension of three bays has been added to the south end, and is part of a large extension which adjoins the rear of the front range and which extends west to adjoin the original rear cross-wing, thus forming a small enclosed courtyard. This is a major addition.
The central, linking range has a pitched roof which sweeps down to form a verandah on each side. It has a series of three roof dormers to either plane, the central ones in the form of venetian windows. The verandah to the south side remains open and has its timber piers intact. On the north side another substantial, flat-roofed infill of stone has been added between the east and west cross-wings stretching the entire length of the main range, and completely absorbing the verandah and original external space.
On the western range (rear) the central combined double gable feature is repeated from the principal elevation. It contains a pair of twelve pane windows with arched heads at first floor, and similar either side of the doorway at ground floor. There are two further original bays either side, but to the southern end the range has been extended by two bays. To the south of the doorway, a sunken caretaker's work shop and plant room projects into the playground.
The majority of the original timber window frames remain, along with some of the original panel doors and original cast iron rainwater goods. The later additions have been fenestrated with uPVC window frames and modern half and fully glazed doors.
The internal layout and interior are for the most part largely unchanged, but there are significant changes where the substantial additions have been integrated with the Widdows building. At ground floor, within the central core of the building, there is a school hall with exposed, curved roof trusses. The hall retains its original timber partitions. The eastern range, including the large later extension, contains six classrooms, some retaining their tiled fireplaces and original hopper windows. The corridors have half-height glazed brick in green and red, and feature top lit timber partitioning and some original internal doors. Additional teaching space is contained within the western range where many original fixtures and fittings remain. Staff rooms, offices and studies are contained at first floor, at either end of the central axis. The original staircases remain with newels and balusters, and many of the rooms have glazed tile work, fireplaces and built in bookcases.
A detached cookery block and separate toilets stand on the opposite side of the playground to the west. These are clearly contemporary with the original school building, and part of the overall ensemble. Along the frontage is an original low wall with squat stone piers and the original nail-head iron railings and entrance gates. Also of note is a setted ramp which leads into the school.
Architecturally, Whaley Bridge School is arguably a little old-fashioned in its treatment, particularly when compared to other Widdows schools of similar date. For example, New Mills (1912) and Ilkeston (1911) both eschew the traditional architectural palette in favour of a more daring approach that employs the use of flat roofs, extensive areas of glazing, and linear ranges with a horizontal rather than vertical emphasis, in some ways pre-empting the art deco architecture of 1930's.
Notwithstanding that this is one of Widdows' earlier schools, when considered in the light of other schools by George Widdows and given it is extended, within a national context it does not possess the special architectural or historic interest needed to warrant designation.
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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