Glebe Junior School

Summary

A school in South Normanton designed by Percy Bond Houfton in 1907 and erected in 1911.

Reasons for Designation

The Glebe Junior School is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:

* the original plan form remains clearly legible and has not undergone significant alteration;
* the school retains most of the notable elements of its original design and is relatively unaltered;
* the exterior of Glebe Junior School is of distinctive architectural quality using well-crafted materials.

Historic Interest:

* Glebe Junior School is of interest as an early example of the butterfly plan-type;
* the school was designed by local architect Percy Bond Houfton who is noted as having worked in conjunction with George Widdows to devise the ‘open air system’ for schools.

History

Glebe Junior School was designed by the architect Percy Bond Houfton (1874-1926). Houfton was hired to design the school in 1907 following the success of his junior school in Alfreton; Croft Infant School (NHLE: 1158507). Due to delays, the school is not believed to have been built until 1911.

The school was one of a large number built for Derbyshire County Council following the 1902 Education Act which passed on responsibility for schools to the County Councils. Derbyshire saw a drastic 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.

In 1904 George H Widdows (1871-1946) was appointed architect to the Council's Education Committee. 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. Initially, Widdows worked both in house, and externally with local architects to develop a series of innovative designs which followed the belief that schools, much like hospitals, depended on both cross ventilation and good amounts of natural lighting for their efficiency. In 1907 a decision was made by the Derbyshire School Board that they would move away from a system of appointing architects based on nominations or via local competition and that all future new schools would be designed internally by the education committee offices. By the time of Widdows' retirement in 1936, he had overseen the construction of some sixty elementary and seventeen secondary schools.

Percy Bond Houfton was the architect hired to design the school in South Normanton in 1907. Born in Alfreton, Derbyshire he originally trained and qualified as a mining engineer while working for his cousin at the Bolsover Colliery Company. Changing to a focus on architecture, he subsequently set up an architectural practice in Chesterfield around 1898. He took a particular interest in housing for model colliery villages with his works including the Garden Village of Woodlands, near Doncaster, for the Brodsworth Colliery Company (1906–1910). In an article following Houfton’s death in 1926 it is noted that he and Widdows together devised what is known as the “open air system” for schools (The Derbyshire Times 22.05.1926, p.12).

Details

Junior School. 1911. Designed by the architect Percy Bond Houfton (1874-1926).

MATERIALS: Red and blue brick, with stone, brick and tile dressings. Steeply pitched plain tile roofs with large brick ridge ventilators.

PLAN: X-plan with 4 four-bay classroom wings at 45 degree angles to central three-bay hall.

EXTERIOR: Banded red and blue brick with gauged brick and stone dressings, steeply pitched hipped plain tile roofs with large brick ridge ventilators. Single storey and with butterfly plan, classroom ranges branching off from central hall. A low, projecting flat roof porch to the north elevation between the wings with a central deeply splayed banded stone and red brick doorcase with segmental arch of radiating voussoirs, decorated to lower edge with ballflowers. Double glazed doors below and embattled parapets over inscribed 'Infants School'. To either side there are three-light windows with chamfered stone sills and dentilled brick hoodmoulds. The south elevation has three-bay gabled central hall with two stepped buttresses rising into the gable decorated with stone tile motifs, flanking the central openings. Ground floor has three segmental headed double doors and central segment headed four-light windows flanked by flat two-light windows above. Continuous tile hoodmould over upper windows. Diamond motif in gable. Central octagonal cupola to roof with leaded base, arcaded sides and domed leaded roof with weathervane. Four-bay angled wings to either side have two furthest bays below wide gable with similar diamond motifs. Two inner bays have three-light timber mullion and transomed windows below hipped roof dormers with three-light windows. Two outer bays have three-light mullion and double transomed windows below dentilled brick hoodmoulds. The wings to the north are in a similar style. There are C20 additions between the wings to the east and west elevations.

INTERIOR: Very plain except staff room which has a tiled fireplace.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

79330

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hartwell, Clare, Pevsner, Nikolaus, Williamson, Elizabeth, The Buildings of England: Derbyshire, (2016)
Pollard, M, Percy Bond Houfton: An ‘unknown’ Derbyshire School Architect in Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. 143, (2023), 203-215
The Derbyshire Schools in The Builder, Vol. 105, (31 October 1913), 460-461.
Widdows, G. H, 'Derbyshire Elementary Schools: Principles of Planning', paper presented to Royal Sanitary Institute on 25 February 1910 in Royal Sanitary Institute Journal, (1910), 92-116.

Websites
Percy Bond Houfton, accessed 10 July 2025 from https://architecture.arthistoryresearch.net/architects/houfton-percy-bond

Other
‘Evicted Scholars’ The Derbyshire Times (05 October 1907) p.6.
‘Death of Mr. P. B. Houfton’ The Derbyshire Times (22 May 1926) p.12.

End of official list entry

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