Princethorpe College

Details

PRINCETHORPE SP37SE 4/37 Princethorpe College

GV II

Shown on Ordnance Survey map as St. Mary Priory. Convent, now a Roman Catholic school. 1833-35 by Craven, with additions to west and former mortuary chapel of 1842-43 by Joseph Hansom. Old church, now theatre and classroom, of 1835-7 by Craven, with alterations by Hansom completed in 1843. Nun's Cemetery of c.1837-38, Front range, originally Guest House of 1836-40, probably by Hansom. Various late C19 and C2i) additions. Red brick. Slate roofs; brick stacks. Large irregular courtyard plan. Various styles. One, 2 and 3 storeys. Former Guest House has painted rendered plinth, moulded string course and cornice, coped gable parapets and dressings. E-plan. Simple Tudor Gothick style. 2 storeys; 1:1:1:1:1 bays. Symmetrical front has gabled projecting centre and wings. Centre is treated as a gatehouse, with octagonal clasping buttresses rising into castellated turrets. Moulded arched doorway with hood mould. Gothick panelled double-leaf doors and traceried overlight. Sashes throughout have gauged brick flat arches. Gable has rendered Gothick panel. Wings have tripartite sashes. Shallow gables have cornice across, moulded kneelers, and slit lancets. Interior: spacious scrolled string quarter turn staircase with stick balusters. Old Church is of English bond brick with moulded L cornice and stone dressings. Roof has stone coped gable parapets and moulded kneelers. Original plan of nave, shallow chancel and east chapel, and south (ritually east) bell turret. 6-bay nave, 2-bay chancel. Tracery probably by Hansom. 3-light south window has transom and geometrical tracery and hood mould. Moulded stone string course across gable. Kneelers have pyramid finials. Square turret has moulded stone sill course, attached shafts, nailhead cornice and panelled pinnacles. Y-tracery bell openings have hood mould. Clock to east side. Mid C19 single-storey 5-bay range across south front has twin hipped roofs. 16-pane sashes. Nest side has windows with cusped Y-tracery; lower parts altered. Small chancel lancet. East side is much altered. Interior is subdivided horizontally. Upper room has very elaborate Perpendicular style roof with bosses, of plaster grained in imitation of wood. Simple vaulted chancel. Some original stained glass. North wall has large late C19 mural of the Martyrdom of St. Benedict. The Nun's Cemetery is a small cloister of brick with moulded brick plinth, and dentil cornice. Circular plan. Doorway has rendered Neo-Norman arch and tympanum with dog-tooth and hood mould, and studded double-leaf doors in slightly-widened opening. Similar blind window. Said to have pointed arches to centre. North range of 3 storeys; 1:6:3:4:1 bays. Gabled projecting centre and end bays have stone-coped gable parapets. Sashes have gauged brick flat arches. End bays have 4-light wood mullioned and transomed windows with glazing bars to upper floors; right end has tripartite sash to ground floor. Former mortuary chapel has Neo-Norman plaster-vaulted interior. 3 bays and apse. Quadripartite vaulting with wall shafts and waterleaf capitals; apse vaulting has capitals only. Apse arch and doorways have zigzag mouldings. Doorways have scalloped capitals and tympana with ballflower. Wide cloister corridors have simple Gothic detailing and terracotta floors. The convent was built for French Benedictine nuns from Montargis and was known as St. Mary's Priory. It became a school in 1965. (V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.VI, p.245; Buildings of England: Warwickshire, p.376).

Listing NGR: SP3953571045

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

308822

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Warwick, (1951), 245
Pevsner, N, Wedgewood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1981), 376

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.