St Paul's College Knutsford

St Paul’s College was to have been constructed on a site of 43 acres on Chelford Road, about two miles from Knutsford. The new buildings were intended to be a college for the northern counties, providing scholastic education on a scale rivalling that given at Eton and Harrow. They were designed to accommodate 500 boys, 24 junior resident masters, senior and junior warden, and the required number of servants. The style adopted by the architects, Messrs. Pennington and Bridge, of Manchester, was that known as the late middle-pointed Gothic, the cost being estimated at £60,000. With much publicity, the foundation stone of the college was laid on Wednesday 24 September by Lord de Tabley and of the chapel by the Bishop of Chester. Building works commenced, but after having carried the walls up a few feet the scheme was abandoned, presumably for want of funds. Further complications arose in 1875 when the original land owner obtained an injunction preventing the construction of anything other than dwelling houses on the site.

COLLEGE OF ST. PAUL, KNUTSFORD, CHESHIRE. This building, which wo illustrate by a general view, and plan of the ground-floor, and of which the Lord Bishop of Chester laid the foundation-stone on the 24th instant, is now in course of erection on a site well adapted to the purpose, and 40 acres in extent, about two miles from the quaint old town of Knutsford, and distant sixteen miles from Manchester. The college is intended to afford a first-class education in accordance with the principles of the Church of England, and on the models of the great schools at Winchester, Harrow, &c, and will accommodate 500 students and 24 resident masters. Reference to the engravings will show the accommodation afforded in the ground-story. The first floor is mainly devoted to seventy studies of various dimensions; the dormitories for the junior students, with a window between each pair of beds, and with lavatories at the ends; and the dining-hall, a noble room, 130 ft. long and 35 ft. wide, with an open-timbered and boarded roof. On the second and third floors sleeping accommodation is provided for the remainder of the students, each having a cubicle with a separate window. The arrangements for water-supply, ventilation, hot and cold baths, are understood to have been well considered. A cloister with traceried windows and buttresses runs round the quadrangle, and affords easy access to the various rooms on the ground-floor. The central tower is 24 ft. square at the base, and is upwards of 170 ft. high, and the lower story, being open on all sides, will form a hand- some entrance to the building. The materials employed are deep red bricks, tuck pointed with black mortar, for the external walls, and for the inside cloister, tower stair- cases, and the upper portion of internal walls of dining-hall; the staircases and landings being fire- proof. The lavatories are lined with glazed tiles, as also the kitchen, larder, and other parts. The architectural features of the fronts, including the panelled parapets, are of red brick, together with the labels, strings, and devices. Very little stone is used, and that is of red colour; and the roofs are to be covered with dun-coloured tiles. The whole of this part of the work is from the designs, and is being carried out under the superintendence, of Messrs Pennington & Bridgen, of Manchester, architects. To Messrs. Goldie & Child has been entrusted the erection of the chapel, which is connected with the college by a cloister, 150 ft. long, and is on the plan of a Latin cross, the head of which forms the sacrarium, the transepts being for the use of visitors and servants. The belfry, of brick and stone, over the choir-arches, rises to a height of 120 feet; the choir itself being vaulted. At the west end of the chapel, and over the ante-chapel, is a lofty triforium, forming an organ-chamber. The internal fittings are to be of the most ornate character, the seats being of richly-carved oak, the pavement tessellated, and granite shafts being freely used in the arcading and piers of the great arches. The materials, externally, will be red brick, to accord with the college buildings, with dressings of stone. We may be able to illustrate the chapel, on a future occasion. It is expected that the buildings will be completed by Christmas, 1874. Mr. William Southern, of Manchester, is contractor for all the works: the contract for the college being £30,000, and for the chapel, £14,000. [Builder 27 September 1873 page 765] 

ST. PAUL'S COLLEGE, KNUTSFORD. The foundation-stones of the New Church of England College about to be erected at Knutsford, and of the chapel belonging to the same, were laid on Wednesday by Lord de Tabley and the Bishop of Chester respectively. The building is arranged on a quadrangular plan, after the model of many of the colleges at Oxford, the main façade (inclusive of the chapel) having a total length of 600 ft. with two flanks or wings projecting 75 ft; that on the south containing the senior warden's residence, with spacious reception-rooms and a reference library; that on the north the apartments of the junior warden and resident masters. In the centre of the principal front is a tower of simple and dignified pro- portions, 24 ft. square at the base, and rising to a height of upwards of 200ft., which serves as a carriage entrance, and at the same time gives access to the quadrangle. A cloister, with traceried windows divided by buttresses, runs round the internal walls of the quadrangle, and affords a convenient and easy access to the various class- rooms, which, with the schoolrooms, are ranged round it, and also forms an ambulatory available in inclement weather of upwards of 1,300ft. The whole of the kitchen and servants’ offices, laundry, etc. are contained in a separate block of buildings on the north side. The first floor of the main block is devoted almost entirely to studies, 75 in number. In the south wing this floor is arranged as a dormitory for the junior students, and in the north wing is occupied by the dining-hall, fitted with an open-timbered roof, and having a length of 160ft. by a width of 40ft. The two upper floors will be used as dormitories. At one end of each dormitory is a bedroom for a junior master, at the other a lavatory lined with tiles and fitted with hot and cold water and all necessary appliances. The senior students have each a cubicle of space partitioned off, about 10ft. by 9ft, which contains a bed and dressing and washing-stand. The building is designed to accommodate 500 boys, 24 junior resident masters, senior and junior warden, and the required number of servants. The style adopted by the architects, Messrs. Pennington and Bridgen, of Manchester, is Middle Pointed Gothic. The external walls, and those of the cloisters, the dining-hall, staircases, library, and lecture-rooms, are faced with deep red bricks, made in the vicinity, and pointed with black mortar; and the surfaces of the external walls are relieved by a sparing use of stone and black bricks, and with traceried panelling, bosses, labels, and devices cast in red brick earth. The whole of the exposed woodwork is stained and varnished. The chapel is from the design of Messrs. Goldie and Child, of London; it will attain a length of 176ft. by a width across the transepts of 95ft. The general form of the building is that of a Latin cross, of which the head forms the sacrarium, terminating in a polygonal apse, whilst the choir or chapel proper forms the stem, with a western ante-chapel; and the transepts or arms accommodate the visitors and servants. The style of the structure is Geometrical Gothic, and the internal arrangements are of such a nature as to allow externally of a grouping of the most striking description, for the gable of the chancel will not only rise considerably over the ridge of the choir, but will be crowned by a lofty belfry of stone and brick, flanked at the junction of the chancel and transepts by two turrets, thus presenting a group of the most picturesque architectural features, rising into a pyramidal composition to the height of 120ft. The apse will be lighted by a series of lofty traceried two-light windows, beneath which, externally and internally, run arcades. A brick and stone vault, 65ft. from the tessellated floor, will form the crown of this portion of the building. A lofty flight of steps will give still further importance to the chancel, and will extend from side to side of the chancel arch, which will be of great depth and massiveness, in order to support the turret, which stands over its apex. The transepts open into the upper portion of the choir by arches, which are continued at right angles, forming a central spire of arcades in each transept, carried on lofty groups of shafts. The choir will be located with a series of great arches, borne on corbels, and spanning the area at regular intervals, thus forming the skeleton of the roof. Two long rows of three-light traceried windows will admit a flood of light on either side of the choir, below which will be the stalls and seats of maters and students in four tiers, backed by panelling of carved oak. Above the ante-chapel, which is defined by an arcade of numerous piers, and vaulted, will be a lofty triforium, opening by tall arcades into the choir, and forming an organ- chamber. A cloister 100ft. in length, will connect the chapel with the college buildings. To harmonise with the main buildings, red brick will be principally used in the chapel, but a less sparing use will be made of stone in this than in the secular buildings. [Building News 26 September 1873 page 353]

Reference        Building News 11 April 1873 Page 439
Reference        Manchester Guardian Thursday 25 September 1873 Page 5 - extensive report over two columns
Reference        Builder 27 September 1873 page 765 with plan and perspective view
Reference        Illustrated London News 4 October 1873 – laying foundation stone
Reference        South Wales Daily News 26 September 1873 page 3
Reference        Manchester Guardian 12 January 1875 page 5 – injunction