Former school at Nunnykirk could be converted into a home and apartments

Plans have been lodged seeking change of use permission for Nunnykirk Hall, near Morpeth.

The Grade 1 listed property, built in 1825, was previously home to the Nunnykirk Centre for Dyslexia, a school for children with learning difficulties.

It closed last July due to falling pupil numbers and was subsequently put on the market for offers over £1.5m.

The application by Dr John and Lindsay Jacques proposes converting the main house into a single family dwelling with the service wing turned into three separate apartments.

It states: ‘This provides an exciting opportunity to sympathetically restore the property to its original intended use as a country house.

‘In light of the property’s historical national significance, the property will be restored with minimal alteration of the original configuration of both the main house and service wing/apartments.

‘Where several minor partition walls have been added over the last decade or so, whilst it was a functioning school, such as for privacy purposes in the toilets and boarding rooms, it is proposed that these late additions are removed, thus restoring those rooms to their original size and shape, and exposing fully such features as the room’s cornicing.’

Over the last ten years, the applicants have successfully transformed a similar property, Garforth House, York, formerly a school and then commercial offices, to a single family house.

They intend to allow access to the public through similar events to the ones they have undertaken at Garforth House, which include an annual school reunion and tours.

There has been one letter of support.

Michael Orde, of Ritton Farm, Netherwitton, said: “As the owner of neighbouring properties and the previous owner of Nunnykirk Hall, I would like to put my support for the planning and listed building applications on record.

"The proposals sympathetically seek to restore use of the property to the way it was designed when remodelled by John Dobson in 1825.

"The building has had a series of different uses, including wartime requisition and its recent use as a school, and it will be a delight to see it return to the proposed single family dwelling and separate apartments.”