Description

CHELTENHAM

SO9422SE ST JAMES'S SQUARE 630-1/13/839 (South side) 24/07/89 Wynnstay House (Formerly Listed as: ST JAMES'S SQUARE (South side) Works of Stoate and Bishop (Printers))

GV II

Infant school, now printing works. 1830, extended mid-late C19 and with restorations and alterations in 1990 (date above entrance). Built for the Revd Francis Close according to the design precepts of the educationalist Samuel Wilderspin. Cotswold stone coursed squared rubble with ashlar quoins, pinkish-brown brick to part of rear extension, and Welsh slate roofs. Rectangular single-cell block with later wing added to the south side forming T-plan, then infilled to one side. EXTERIOR: north facade (to street) has quoins and central truncated stack; reputed to have been originally blank, with entrance to left with Gibbs surround (now blocked) and further C20 entrance to right with plank door. Crowning cornice and renewed parapet. East gable has 2 tall 2-light stone mullioned windows with multi-paned casements and hollow-chamfered dripmoulds over. The inscription board (now blank) survives in the gable. West gable has tall 3-light mullion window with similar casements and under hollow-chamfered hoodmould. Coped gables with string. South front has tall 2-light mullion window. Centre projects with 2-light mullion-and-transom window between entrance at left with C20 double doors and remains of similar window, now overlight and with hoodmoulds, and at left a gabled porch with 4-centre-headed double plank doors in tooled and chamfered surround with hollow-chamfered hoodmould. 3 c1990 attic dormers. 4-light window in gable end. INTERIOR: originally a single schoolroom measuring 60 x 30 feet to accommodate 250 children aged 2 to 7; a gallery has been inserted to create office space. HISTORICAL NOTE: the oldest surviving specially designed Infant School built according to the most up-to-date ideas of the time. It was opened on 20 July 1830. It is reputed that the south facade had originally 4 tall windows, that the parapet was castellated throughout and that there was a small gallery to the west end. (McCann P and Young FA: Samuel Wilderspin and the Infant School Movement: 1982-: 95-100).

Listing NGR: SO9453022419

External Links

• Wikidata Q26667462

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Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House