The Old Priory, Attached Walls and Gate Piers, Repton School Repton, England

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PARISH OF REPTON WILLINGTON ROAD SK 30/3127 SK 30/3126 6/91 (North Side) 2.9.52 The Old Priory, Attached Walls and Gate Piers, Repton School (formerly listed as three items) GV I

Priors lodgings converted into a school in 1557, attached steps and walls up to main entrance and attached gate piers known as the Pillars of Hercules. Late C12, C16, C17 restored 1922. Rubble and coursed squared sandstone, with sandstone dressings and some red brick. Plain tile roof, moulded coped gables with plain kneelers and finials. C19 and C20 brick stacks in the pitch of the roof. One external stack to west, raised in brick. Two storeys. West elevation of seven bays with mostly C16 and C17 fenestration. The end bays gabled. Chamfered stringcourse above the undercroft. Fenestration from left to right, a 3-light recessed cavetto moulded mullioned window, doorway with plain chamfered surround, 4-light and 3-light mullioned windows, moulded four-centred arched doorway, wooden cross window, 2-light casement in chamfered surround, blocked window, two 2-light wooden casements, doorway opening to a stone winder stair within the wall leading to an upper doorway originally giving access to a range to west. Archway with segmental arch. The first floor has a cross window, 4-light mullioned and transomed window, cross window, and three 4-light mullioned and transomed windows. In the left gable a 3-light mullioned window, in the right gable, a similar window with wooden casements. Seven C18 gabled dormers. To the south a ramped walkway with parapet walls with double chamfered copings, leads up to the main entrance, a C16 four-centred arched doorway with moulded surround and carved spandrels. Returned hoodmould. C16 panelled door with smaller door set in. To the right a 2-light casement with similar above. To the left a sundial and above again a sunk panel with moulded surround. Attached to the west, by the external stack, a low wall and the Pillars of Hercules, built c1670 as the result of a law suit between the governors of the school and the Thacker family who owned Repton Hall. Square ashlar piers, moulded cornices and ball finials. East elevation of ten bays. Three centre bays are twin gabled and project over a three bay open arcade with basket arches and plain impost band. Three recessed and cavetto moulded cross windows above. Single light casements in the gables. To the left the ground floor has two wooden casement windows and a four-centred arched doorway. A 4-light and 2-light mullioned and transomed window and a wooden cross window above. Remains of a chamfered stringcourse to left. Left gable has a casement window and parapet walls repaired in brick. To the right, irregular fenestration of mostly wooden mullioned and transomed casements set in chamfered surrounds; also two chamfered lancets with arched heads. Five C20 roof dormers. Interior: At the south end a tunnel vaulted slype and the remains of deeply splayed windows. Undercroft with four C12 and two C20 circular piers supporting massive beams which in turn support the timber ceiling. Set in the south wall are miscellaneous fragments from the priory dug up in the 1880s, and in the north wall are medieval tiles. Other fragments fill the south end of the undercroft which is now the museum. To the north, re-set C17 panelling and a room with part of a C12 rib vault and two lancet windows. C17 style oak staircase of 1922. The priors hall above, now divided into schoolrooms. Remains of a C12 round-arched doorway, large fireplaces with bressumers and chamfered beamed ceilings. Panelling mostly C20. At the north end of the library a raised dais with carved and panelled back, and canopy, dated 1650. Stained glass of 1909, copies of vignettes of the life of St Guthlac designed by a monk from Crowland in the C12. The top floor has a single and double purlin braced collar beam roof, including fragments of the roof of c1400.

Listing NGR: SK3033827191