School House

Details

TQ 19 NE ALDENHAM ALDENHAM SCHOOL

7/9 School House -

CV II

School buildings including: Old Library and Headmaster's House, 1825 by W.F.Pococke, extended c.1880; Old Dining Hall, 1842; Dining Hall, 1887-8 by E.H.Martineau and later additions; Tower and School Room, 1864-5 by A.Mee, extended 1882; all for the Brewer's Company. Stock brick with stone dressings. Slate roofs. 1825 core with dining halls to E, Tower and School Room to NW, and Headmaster's House to S, all loosely Jacobethan. Facing N to inner courtyard: 3 bays of 2 storey 1825 block. Entrance to left with moulded surround, above a plaque from original school in decorative surround inscribed 'THIS FFREE GRAMER SCOOLE WA/S FOUNDED AND FINISHED BY RICHARD PLATT CITIZEN AND BR/EWER OF LONDON A.D.1597.' Ground floor: 2-light casement and two 6-light stone mullion and transom casements with ogee moulded surrounds, octagonal leaded panes. First floor: 2 and 3 lights. Plain parapet. Right return behind tower to garden: two 2-storey canted bays with a 3rd storey towards rear. Octagonal paned casements. Plinth, string course below stepped gable parapets. Blind panels in gables. Attached to left and projecting into inner courtyard is the Old Dining Hall in plum brick. 2 storeys 4 windows. Ground floor: paired sashes in stone surrounds with moulded and stopped hoods from a continuous string course. To right a small window with octagonal leaded panes. First floor; 3 light casements with octagonal panes, moulded stone surrounds. Gable end: entrance in a pointed arch, 1 similar window to each floor, parapet. Attached to left is later Dining Hall: 5 bays, 1 storey. Entrance in gabled porch to left. Plank door with decorative strap hinges. 4 centred head to outer arch with square hood mould, carved spandrels with arms and motto. Datestone in coped gable parapet. To right: four 6 light double chamfered stone mullion and transom windows, square leaded panes. Central bay is canted out. 2 stage buttresses. Plinth. String courses with gargoyles over rainwater pipes. Crenellated parapet. Steeply pitched roof. Gable end parapets. Right end: large window with 4 centred arched head. 4 lancets broken by a transom. Left end: similar window with 3 lancets. To left: link to an early C20 Neo-Georgian red and stock brick house: 3 storeys, 5 window front flush frame glazing bar sashes, stone keys to cambered heads. Stone plat bands. Dentilled cornice to parapet. Left return linked to rear of Old Dining Hall and 1825 block: 3 storeys, 3 bays. Attached to rear of 1825 block is Headmaster's House of c.1880: 3 storeys and attic. Symmetrical 4 window front. Central entrance in broad stone porch. 4 centred arched entrance, crenellated parapet raised at centre with panel holding arms. 2-light leaded pane casements, double chamfered stone mullioned surrounds. Single lights to central bay in upper storeys. Crenellated parapet with stepped gable to centre. Left return: ground floor bay window. Rear or garden front: 2 storey and 1 storey canted bays and an oriel window leading into original block. Tower and School Rooms are linked to 1825 block to right from inner courtyard, a small 3 sided yard is formed by 1825 block, Old Dining Hall and School Rooms. Red and stock brick with cement rendered dressings. Octagonal tower serves as link. 3 storeys. Entrance to garden with pointed arched head with heraldic ornament above. Slit windows with hood moulds. Panelled frieze below a coved cornice with carved heads at angles. Crenellated parapet. Leaded spire with 4 lucarnes. School Rooms: 2 storeys. 5 bays. Garden front: right hand bay has a 6 light below a 3 light window stepped up to centre. Stopped hood moulds. Panel in stepped parapet. 4 bays to left project slightly forward: ground floor mullion and transom windows, moulded surrounds, stopped hood moulds. First floor similar but simpler. 3 stage buttresses. Stepped parapet. In central bay a reset stone with carved arms of R.Platt in ornamental surround and date 1597. To left: 2 bay, 3 storey 1882 extension. Brick relieving arches over stone mullioned windows. Datestone in extruded stack with offsets. Angle buttresses. Kneelers to coped gable parapet. Tall capped stacks. Late C19 extensions to rear. Interior: Dining Hall, arch braced King Post roof. (Pevsner 1977).

Listing NGR: TQ1574497375

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

164056

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977)

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.