56 St John Street

• Dates back to 16th century
• Once a school for girls
• Rebuilt around 1811
• Grade 2 listed

56 St John Street is the white-rendered house located near the park end of the road, sitting between Madge House (No. 58, left above), which was the Misses Parker’s school for girls 1793-1820s, and St John’s House (No.54, right above).

A house with the same footprint has existed at No. 56 since at least the 16th century [ref 1547 map]. The house seen today was built in the early nineteenth century by Rachel Bainbrigge.

The house is Grade 2 listed. It has a rendered or roughcast exterior with coped parapet. It is three storeys high, each with three flat-headed sash windows with exposed frames and glazing bars. The bottom storey windows have panelled shutters. It has a recessed, six fielded panelled door with rectangular fanlight and Gothic glazing.

Conveyance documents show that the original house at this location was owned by the Bowers of Chesterfield from the early 18th century, and then by the Goodwins from 1779 until 1796. In the 18th century the occupants of the house were the Howards (milliners) and then the Pidcocks (plumbers and glaziers). From approximately 1797 to 1811 it was used by the Misses Parker as part of their school for girls.

The house was then bought by Philip Bainbrigge and his wife Rachel. Philip died in battle in Holland in 1799 and a memorial to him is inside St Oswald’s Church. Rachel Bainbrigge rebuilt the house possibly in 1811 and lived there until No.54 was extended in the 1820s, at which point she moved next-door.

In 1828 she sold the house to Joseph Bradley (grocer and banker) and, after being rented out for 40 years, in 1868, it was sold by his son Septimus (an important figure in Ashbourne in the mid-19th century), to the Skevingtons. Both Joseph and Septimus Bradley have memorials inside St Oswald’s Church. The Skevingtons, and by marriage the Rigbys, lived in the house for more than 100 years.