| Description | Former grammar school, now training centre. Built 1878 9 by Joseph and John Leeming in an Elizabethan style.
In 2013 English Heritage were asked to assess the former Heath Grammar School, Free School Lane for potential listing. Below is a summary of their building description, made during a site visit in September 2013:
*Exterior: The building is of two storeys with a basement and is nine bays in length. It is built of squared and coursed sandstone blocks with ashlar stone dressings, a plinth and moulded sill bands. The central gabled bay is recessed behind a projecting ground floor porch. Towards the apex of the gable is a large circular window with 'apple and pear' tracery and decorative leaded glazing, which is an exact copy of the Elizabethan window in the original school. Beneath this is a horizontal eight light window with stone mullions and transoms. The porch has a moulded parapet incorporating the first floor sill band. Set on the parapet is a rectangular stone plaque with a central relief carved mandorla enclosing an open book and various symbols. The plaque is inscribed FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF QUEEN ELIZABETH / FOUNDED 1585 REBUILT 1878 / SCHEME OF ENDOWED SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS APPROVED BY / QUEEN VICTORIA IN COUNCIL FOURTH OF AUGUST 1873. The porch has a foliate carved impost band and a wide Tudor arched doorway. The doorway, which is raised with three steps, has a moulded architrave, foliate carved spandrels and a pedimented doorhood with ball and decorative finials. The double timber doors have vertical battens. Set on the ridge in the centre of the roof is a timber double height lantern with ball finials, and a pointed roof topped by a weather vane. The first, fourth, sixth, and ninth bays of the elevation have triangular pediments with coping and ball finials at their apexes. The second and third bays, and the seventh and eighth bays, which are flanked by the pedimented bays, have pierced parapetting. All windows are square headed with double chamfered frames. The east and west return elevations are similarly detailed with a central pediment with ball finial flanked by pierced parapetting with ball finials to the outer corners and similar mullion and transom, and transom windows. On the east elevation a first floor doorway has been inserted to the left hand side with a spiral iron fire escape. To its left is a single, ground floor bay, with a tall, slightly tapering, square chimney to the outer corner (shown on the original architects' drawing). The west elevation has a high level covered bridge built of stone spanning a driveway and linking the original building with a later, two storey, three bay block. |