Building record 14958 - King's School, Cumberland Street, Macclesfield

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1206909 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

School. 1854-6 with later extensions and alterations. Original architect F Bellhouse. Coursed and squared rubble with ashlar dressings and slate roof. Main school buildings comprise central full-height hall with full-height class rooms as aisles to each side, the left-hand gabled range a later addition dated 1886. Entrance in gabled porch to right of main hall, which has 3-light mullioned and transomed tiered window. Dated and with coat of arms in gable apex. Similar tiered window of 4-lights in left hand gable, which has smaller gables in left hand return. Right-hand range comprises a series of gables running at right angles to the main range, also with tiered mullioned and transomed windows. Beyond the main range to the left and rear, the former headmaster's house is probably a somewhat later addition, though in a similar style. Apparently L-plan (the original arrangement somewhat obscured by later additions), with 2 parallel gables projecting to the left, and doorway in angle. Canted bay window in gable wall, and gabled porch (possibly the original principal entrance) in the adjoining rear range. INTERIOR: the main school buildings have been bisected with inserted gallery floors, but retain the original roof structure with tie beams and principal trusses carried on cambered wall posts sprung from stone corbels. Traceried timberwork above each tie beam.

<2> Hinchcliffe Heritage, 2019, Heritage Statement for Development at King's School, Macclesfield, R4312 (Client Report). SCH8697.

Heritage Statement and photographic record prepared in 2019 in support of a proposal for works and development at King’s School, Cumberland Street, Macclesfield. King’s School is currently an active secondary school, operating over three sites in Macclesfield. The site at Cumberland Street has been used as a school since 1856, when it re-located from elsewhere Macclesfield. The school has five principal educational buildings arranged along the north edge of the site, although there are some additional buildings on and around the site. The main buildings/structures include: the original school building and headmaster's house built in 1854-6 and 1872 (currently library and offices); the entrance lodge also built in 1856; stone boundary walls and associated gates/entrances built in 1856 and 1898; the main school building built in 1910; the science block built in 1937; the memorial cricket pavillion built in the 1930s; Kent School built in the 1950s; the music school built in 1967.

The original school was built in 1854-6 to the design of the architect F Bellhouse in gothic revival style when it had a single principal classroom in the centre, which was open from the ground floor up to four pierced timber roof trusses, plus some ancillary side rooms. It was extended on the west side by 1872 with the addition of a house for the headmaster in similar style and materials but more domestic in character. It has had further extensions, at various dates. The most prominent extension is at the left hand side with a gable projecting in front of the original gable and with an inscribed date stone of 1886 at high level. Most of the extensions are in matching styles and materials but the most recent extension at the rear has inferior details. It is now used as the school library and as offices for the school. Inside, the building retains the original roof structure of four pine principal trusses in the main hall carried on cambered wall posts sprung from stone corbels and has traceried timber-work above each tie beam. A mezzanine level was inserted in the mid-late twentieth century.There are two simple stone fire surrounds, some panelled windows shutters in the bay of the former headmaster’s house, some original/early plain plaster cornices and a variety of skirtings.

King’s School was founded in 1502 by John Percyvale, who had left Macclesfield in the early fifteenth century to make his fortune in London, where he became a successful merchant. He joined the Guild of Merchant Taylors in 1450, and within 8 years he was a freeman of the City of London. By 1486, he had married a rich and influential widow (Thomasina Bonaventura) and had become Master of his Guild. He was knighted in 1487 and became Lord Mayor of London in 1498. Towards the end of his life, his thoughts turned to immortality and he decided to endow a chantry school in his home town, supported by other local merchants and local aristocracy, namely Thomas Savage (of the Stanley family) and Sir Richard Sutton of Prestbury. The school was established initially in the Savage Chapel of Macclesfield Parish Church shortly after Sir John’s death, with William Bridges as the first schoolmaster-priest. It was the first of several schools across the country to be founded by a member of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. The school re-located a few times, from the Savage Chapel it moved in 1552 to School Bank, behind the Parish Church, and then in 1748 it moved to Peter Davenport's House on King Edward Street. With the success of the silk industry, Macclesfield continued to grow to a population of over 8,700 in 1802. Likewise the school grew so that in 1802, it had 72 boarders and 19 day scholars. In 1838 the Cumberland Street site was acquired with the new 'Modern Free School' eventually opening in 1855.