SNN111771 - Archaeological Building Recording in respect of St James School, Greenwood Road, Northampton

A programme of building recording was carried out at St James School Greenwood Road Northampton. (NGR 474337 260729) on behalf of Stead Goodman Developments. The study was requested by Northampton Borough Council as part of a planning consent for demolition of the main school buildings (Ref: N/2011/0504). The photographic and written survey relates to a standard of recording to a minimum of Level 2 as specified by English Heritage in its publication Understanding Historic Buildings:A Guide to Good Recording Practice (2006). The results of the recording are required to document the building and will be archived appropriately to inform future study following demolition. The first school building on the site was the neo Gothic building on St James Road currently being refurbished as a nursery. It was constructed in 1866 as a ‘national school’ on land purchased from Dallington Estate and donated to the diocese of Peterborough by Rev. William Thornton of Kingsthorpe Hall. This school building predates the church which was begun in 1868 and consecrated in 1871. The first phase of the subject building was constructed circa 1870 in the northern corner of what was the site at the time. It was free standing building, probably containing two classrooms and a porch or cloak area. The building is much smaller and simpler in detail than the school building on St James Road. It is thought that the two schools ran simultaneously as a boys and girls or infants and juniors. The main phase of the subject building was added to the existing building between 1894 and 1901 following donation of an additional area of land to the north east by Earl Spencer. The main phase of the building shows some characteristics of the ‘pavilion’ or ‘corridor’ style of school building. The building is generally light with large sash windows but is architecturally simple in its detail. It appears to have been constructed in a single phase or in close succession but was eclectic in its layout. Many classrooms were only accessible through other rooms. It seems likely that the earlier building on St James Road served as an infant’s school with the later school buildings split between those for girls and for boys. During the 1970s a number of flat roofed extensions were added to the subject building and much of the interior was refurbished and remodelled.