Details
701/0/10035 LEWIS ROAD
26-SEP-05 North Reddish Infant and Junior School
II
Infants and junior school, 1907, by Cheers & Smith of Blackburn, at a cost of just under £11,000. Mainly single storey in red brick under slate roofs, consisting of a junior school having an uneven H plan with stepped wings, and a separate infants block, linked by railings and walls.
EXTERIOR: The red brick is relieved by buff stone string courses at sill and lintel levels, stone keystones and toppings to gateposts, parapets etc. Roofs are topped with red ridge tiles ending in projecting decorative finials at gable ends, and there are multiple roof lines and tall chimney shafts. Gables ends have white plastered tops, one above the double height main hall bearing a decorated shield in relief, and a date of 1907, above which is a louvred spire with tall slim slated roof. Entrance porches have widely overhanging gables supported on carved wooden consoles. Windows are of two types: larger ones on the gables, some with keyed segmental arch tops, having mullion and transom in wood, 3 or 6 lights above and 6 over 6 sashes below; smaller windows between with 6 over 6 sashes. Small block in inner corner of stepped cross-wing (east side) has castellated parapet with stone dressings and a pyramidal roof. The two buildings are linked by low walls with stone copings topped with iron railings, brick and stone gate piers (photographic evidence suggests that these were once higher), and open sided sheds, possibly originally bicycle sheds. North-west corner of west wing has a flat-roofed pre-fabricated extension comprising a single classroom, not of architectural interest.
INTERIOR: Junior school has a central hall running east-west, of double height with exposed trusses of dark wood and clerestorey windows down each side and at each end. To each side are classrooms, library and W.C.s. A free-standing stage is situated at the west end, beyond which is a corridor leading to the kitchen, further classrooms, stores, cloakrooms and in north-west corner access to the classroom extension. At the east end a corridor leads to more classrooms and to the north the main entrance, headteacher's room and staff room. On the east wall of the hall is a war memorial in glazed tiles, with the dates 1914 and 1919 at each side, above panels containing a coat of arms, and a central panel listing "those who fell" and "those who returned", topped by a panel stating "North Reddish Council School", with a central cartouche carrying the words "The Great War" contained in a wreath. The entrance reception area has a suspended ceiling; all other ceilings are original, with exposed wooden framing and trusses, some with decorative wall posts supported on moulded corbels. All the classrooms are in original configuration with original panelled doors, glazed with small panes on the upper third, and half-height tiling in green and brown. Many rooms have remains of tiled fireplaces in the corner, and at least one fireplace survives intact with grate. Infants block has a central hall running north-south, with main entrance to the west and classrooms arranged on all sides. The architectural details are similar to those in the junior school.
HISTORY: The school was built as a council school in 1907, soon after North Reddish was subsumed into Stockport and at around the same time as other municipal buildings were being erected. It was apparently almost immediately pressed into service as a military hospital during the First World War, and the war memorial inside the school is a reminder of that connection.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE
This school, built in the first years of the twentieth century, is well designed with significant architectural detailing, and is also well preserved in almost entirely original condition. The presence of an unusual First World War memorial within the school adds to the historic significance of the building.
This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 30 January 2017.
