Royal Victoria School For the Blind

ROYAL VICTORIA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, BENWELL LANE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1024958
Date first listed:
17-Dec-1971
List Entry Name:
Royal Victoria School For the Blind
Statutory Address:
ROYAL VICTORIA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, BENWELL LANE
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1024958
Date first listed:
17-Dec-1971
List Entry Name:
Royal Victoria School For the Blind
Statutory Address 1:
ROYAL VICTORIA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, BENWELL LANE

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
ROYAL VICTORIA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, BENWELL LANE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
Newcastle upon Tyne (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
NZ 21252 64273

Details

NZ 26 SW NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE BENWELL LANE (south side)

11/98 Royal Victoria School for the Blind. Benwell Dene 17.12.71

G.V. II

House, now school. 1865 by Alfred Waterhouse for Dr. Thomas Hodgkin. Hammer- dressed snecked sandstone with ashlar plinth and dressings; graduated dark slate roof with serrated ridge tiles and stone gable copings. Irregular plan. Tudor- Gothic style. 2 storeys and attics; entrance front of 6 bays, with one at left and 2 at right gabled and breaking forward to range round courtyard; 2 bays set back at left, 4 bays extending to right from gabled end of right wing. Extruded 2 storey porch at left of courtyard contains boarded door; loggia, now glazed, in inner right return, has 2 paired openings, central octagonal columns with cushion capitals, and low walls except in right entrance bay which has panelled door with etched glazing under 2-centred arch. Scattered fenestration. 3-light stone-mullioned-and-transomed stair window at right of central section. All other windows sashes with flat stone lintels, alternate-block jambs with shouldered chamfers, and sloping sills. Left projection has rounded ground floor corners corbelled out to first floor continuous string; above this are 3 elliptical-headed niches containing low-relief coats of arms. Central section has 3 high-gabled dormers with bargeboards and clove finials. Many ashlar-coped ridge chimneys with buttresses and square yellow pots. Interior shows geometric- patterned tiled entrance hall and dog-leg stair with pierced balustrade and grip handrail. Stair window glass has coats of arms of Middlesex, Newcastle and Cornwall, initials TH and LAH and date 1865. Gothic cast-iron radiator cover in hall. Historical note: Hodgkin was a notable local historian. He gave the house to the Royal Victoria Home in 1894, and at the same time gave its grounds to the then Urban District of Benwell as a public park. Source: M. Hope Dodds, Northumberland County History, 1930, p.234.

Listing NGR: NZ2125264273

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
304401
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Northumberland County History in Northumberland County History, (1930), 234

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Royal Victoria School For the Blind

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 14-Jun-2026 at 03:04:07.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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