The Building

Chesterton House, apart from being one of Loughborough’s finest examples of Georgian architecture, stands as a milestone in the history of English education.  The 200-year old building is steeped in history, but it is probably most famed as England’s first grammar school for girls.

The house was built in 1802 for Thomas Barfoot Oliver when he married Anne Middleton, daughter of the well known Loughborough banking family. During the 1840’s the Burton  Charity, through which Loughborough’s Grammar School for  Boy’s was established, decided to set up a girl’s school in the  town and began a search for suitable premises. The grand four-storey building in Rectory Place suited their needs perfectly, and a lease was obtained for Chesterton House from the trustees of the Oliver estate.

The school, headed by Miss Charnock, was opened in 1850, with an initial intake of 30 pupils. However, there was some confusion between the Burton Charity and the Oliver trustees over maintenance responsibilities and the house soon fell into disrepair. The girls were moved to a Wesleyan schoolroom in Leicester Road and what is now the endowed Loughborough High School opened in Burton Walks in 1879, next to the boy’s Grammar school.

The following year the house was purchased by William Edward Woolley, a well known land agent and surveyor of Loughborough, who occupied the building for many years. Until this time the house was known as Darby’s Buildings. It didn’t actually become Chesterton House until Councillor William Warner brought the property in 1919. It is believed the house was named after his uncle, Mr Chesterton, who helped him set up his own business in Loughborough.

The building now forms the centrepiece of three listed buildings in Rectory Place and has been carefully restored to house the present occupants - Chesterton House Financial Planning, who moved in in mid 1991.

Andy Jervis, director of the company, said, “Maintaining a fine and historic building such as Chesterton House is an ongoing  process, and there is still much to do. It is an amazing old building with a wonderful sense of a bygone era and we are  proud to have brought it back from a state of sad neglect to it’s new prominence within Rectory Place. We hope that our business will be as long-standing and successful as that of previous occupants of Chesterton House."