Harrington Infant School

Details

WORKINGTON

566/0/10011 CHURCH ROAD 08-JUL-03 Harrington Infant School

II Former Board School now infant school. 1875, with minor late C20 alterations. By Thomas Lewis Banks for The Harrington School Board. Coursed, squared, red sandstone rubble on a chamfered plinth, with detailing in buff sandstone, mostly ashlar. Steeply pitched Welsh slate roofs with decorative clay ridge tiles.
PLAN: Single-storey, E-plan with symmetrical elevation to Church Road, each arm containing a separate hall for each of the school's departments: Infants (centre) with Boys (right) and Girls (left).
EXTERIOR: Front elevation with centre gabled bay with outer gabled wings; gabled dormer on each side of the central gable with entrance doors at the angles of the two outer wings. Central bay steps forward slightly but outer wings are well forward of the front wall. At the rear each hall projects out into the playground producing a back-to-back E-shaped configuration. C20 casement window frames within original stone surrounds with shouldered arches. Front and north-east elevation windows all have hollow chamfers. Elsewhere windows are simpler with less detailing. Two arched entrances each in the angle of the outer wings. A coped, gabled dormer on each side of the central bay has two-lights, each with a transome and a relieving arch over each light. Between the dormer and the entrance doors there are 3 windows, similarly detailed, but without transomes. This pattern is mirrored on the other side of the central gabled bay. Matching outer gables, each with a 2-light window with a transome and shouldered arch. Within the relieving arch over each window, the buff ashlar is banded and one course has incised lettering: BOYS and GIRLS respectively. Between these bands red sandstone is laid in herringbone pattern. Gable apex with chamfered vent. Central coped gable with kneelers, finial and 3-light window, the centre-light stepping above the flanking lights, the transomes with shouldered arches. Similarly detailed relieving arch above, with incised lettering reading 'INFANTS'. Elsewhere on the banded ashlar in this gable a carved inscription which reads 'HARRINGTON SCHOOL BOARD and CHURCH ROAD SCHOOLS'
INTERIOR: Little-disturbed original plan form with minor C20 partitions and suspended ceilings, but roof structure, fireplaces, dado panelling, arched doors and doorheads with carved spandrels are all retained.

SOURCES: Cumberland Times 20th November 1875.
A.Stuart Gray, Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary, 1985.
E.R.Robson, School Architecture, 1874, reprinted 1972.
RIBA, Directory of British Architects, 1834-1914, 2001
Banks, T.L. The Parish Church, Egremont, CWAAS Trans.
(O.S.)vi, 163-175

An early Board School of 1875, that retains its original plan and detailing, designed in a simple Gothic style by Thomas Lewis Banks, a regionally important architect (whose other work includes the Weslyan Methodist Church and the new Market Hall, both in Whitehaven).

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

490428

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Robson, ER, School Architecture, (1874)
Gray, A S, Edwardian Architecture A Biographical Dictionary, (1985)
British Architectural Library, RIBA, Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, (2001)
West Cumberland Times in 20th November, (1875)

End of official list entry

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