Survey Data
Reg No
15617003
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Saint Catherine's Convent
Original Use
Convent/nunnery
Date
1910 - 1915
Coordinates
273936, 110981
Date Recorded
04/09/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached six-bay three-storey dormitory block with dormer attic, built 1912, on a rectangular plan. Closed, ----. Now in alternative use. Pitched slate roof centred on "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed flat roofs to window openings to dormer attic with clay ridge tiles, lichen-spotted cut-limestone coping to gables on cut-limestone ogee kneelers with Cross finials to apexes, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves. Fine roughcast walls on limestone ashlar plinth with cut-limestone quoins to corners. Pointed-arch window openings in pointed-arch recesses (ground floor) with cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (upper floors) with cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings to side elevations with cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having chamfered reveals framing timber casement windows. Set in landscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A dormitory block illustrating the continued development or "improvement" of the Saint Louis's Convent complex in the early twentieth century with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the restrained neo-Gothic "arcade"; the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the openings on each floor with those openings showing silver-grey dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; and the high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a dormitory block forming part of a neat self-contained group alongside the adjoining Saint James's Catholic Church (see 15617002) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a chapel village setting.