Gardyner House, Quernmore Road, Lancaster- Building Investigation

Lancaster Royal Grammar School made a planning application to Lancaster City Council to refurbish and develop Gardyner House, Quernmore Road, Lancaster, Lancashire (SD 348570 461583) prior to the redevelopment of the site. As part of the planning procedure, Lancashire County Archaeological Service LCAS) recommended a building recording programme of English Heritage (2006) Level II standard for the house and gardens. This was to include a rapid desk-based assessment, which would provide an historical background and detail any changes in the development of the buildings. In addition, a site investigation was to be undertaken, comprising written descriptions, as well a photographic record, and site drawings of the floor plans and a cross-section. A comparable level of recording was also to be undertaken for the surrounding gardens.
Following these recommendations, Lancaster Royal Grammar School requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertake the building investigation and landscape survey of the gardens, which were duly completed in April 2007. The survey determined that Gardyner House was built during the mid nineteenth century, but was originally known as Eastfield. The renaming, referring to the fifteenth century school benefactor and Lord of Bailrigg, John Gardyner, was not made till the early twentieth century, following the acquisition of the building by the school in 1902.
Cartographic evidence illustrates that the single storey extension to the east elevation and the conservatory on the west elevation were additions made during the 1880s and these account for the most significant changes to the building. Indeed, the majority of features, such as the windows and doors, and the internal woodwork are original in provenance, and thus, the character of the original building has essentially been retained, in spite of the change of use.
Similarly, cartographic evidence indicates that the gardens have essentially remained the same. The most significant change was the creation of hard standing at the east end of the building during the 1950s, which required the construction of an internal wall in brick, in order to retain the original ground surface behind the stone perimeter wall. This hard standing was used to erect prefabricated buildings, which served as biology laboratories until the late twentieth century. Subsequently, these have been demolished and the area used as a car park.