Description

PRINCETHORPE
SP37SE
4/37 Princethorpe College

GV II

Shown on Ordnance Survey map as St. Mary Priory.
Convent, now a Roman Catholic school. 1833-35 by Craven, with additions to west
and former mortuary chapel of 1842-43 by Joseph Hansom. Old church, now theatre
and classroom, of 1835-7 by Craven, with alterations by Hansom completed in
1843. Nun's Cemetery of c.1837-38, Front range, originally Guest House of
1836-40, probably by Hansom. Various late C19 and C2i) additions. Red brick.
Slate roofs; brick stacks. Large irregular courtyard plan. Various styles. One,
2 and 3 storeys. Former Guest House has painted rendered plinth, moulded string
course and cornice, coped gable parapets and dressings. E-plan. Simple Tudor
Gothick style. 2 storeys; 1:1:1:1:1 bays. Symmetrical front has gabled
projecting centre and wings. Centre is treated as a gatehouse, with octagonal
clasping buttresses rising into castellated turrets. Moulded arched doorway with
hood mould. Gothick panelled double-leaf doors and traceried overlight. Sashes
throughout have gauged brick flat arches. Gable has rendered Gothick panel.
Wings have tripartite sashes. Shallow gables have cornice across, moulded
kneelers, and slit lancets. Interior: spacious scrolled string quarter turn
staircase with stick balusters. Old Church is of English bond brick with moulded L
cornice and stone dressings. Roof has stone coped gable parapets and moulded
kneelers. Original plan of nave, shallow chancel and east chapel, and south
(ritually east) bell turret. 6-bay nave, 2-bay chancel. Tracery probably by
Hansom. 3-light south window has transom and geometrical tracery and hood mould.
Moulded stone string course across gable. Kneelers have pyramid finials. Square
turret has moulded stone sill course, attached shafts, nailhead cornice and
panelled pinnacles. Y-tracery bell openings have hood mould. Clock to east side.
Mid C19 single-storey 5-bay range across south front has twin hipped roofs.
16-pane sashes. Nest side has windows with cusped Y-tracery; lower parts
altered. Small chancel lancet. East side is much altered. Interior is subdivided
horizontally. Upper room has very elaborate Perpendicular style roof with
bosses, of plaster grained in imitation of wood. Simple vaulted chancel. Some
original stained glass. North wall has large late C19 mural of the Martyrdom of
St. Benedict. The Nun's Cemetery is a small cloister of brick with moulded brick
plinth, and dentil cornice. Circular plan. Doorway has rendered Neo-Norman arch
and tympanum with dog-tooth and hood mould, and studded double-leaf doors in
slightly-widened opening. Similar blind window. Said to have pointed arches to
centre. North range of 3 storeys; 1:6:3:4:1 bays. Gabled projecting centre and
end bays have stone-coped gable parapets. Sashes have gauged brick flat arches.
End bays have 4-light wood mullioned and transomed windows with glazing bars to
upper floors; right end has tripartite sash to ground floor. Former mortuary
chapel has Neo-Norman plaster-vaulted interior. 3 bays and apse. Quadripartite
vaulting with wall shafts and waterleaf capitals; apse vaulting has capitals
only. Apse arch and doorways have zigzag mouldings. Doorways have scalloped
capitals and tympana with ballflower. Wide cloister corridors have simple Gothic
detailing and terracotta floors. The convent was built for French Benedictine
nuns from Montargis and was known as St. Mary's Priory. It became a school in
1965.
(V.C.H.: Warwickshire, Vol.VI, p.245; Buildings of England: Warwickshire,
p.376).

Listing NGR: SP3953571045

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q99937427

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)