The site of a former grammar school in Bentham has been placed on the market with a guide price of £2 million.

Seven years ago the school, which charged £2,200 per term for day pupils, announced it was being taken over by Sedbergh Public School to be used as a junior campus.

Sedbergh is best-known for its famous old boy, ex-England rugby union captain Will Carling.

The news created an outcry among parents, who learned that while all the junior children at the grammar school were to stay, the older children had to apply for places at the senior school or move elsewhere.

The new junior school opened in September 2002 following a £1 million refurbishment.

At the time, headteacher Paul Reynolds said the move breathed new life into the old classrooms and the opportunity to take over the site had been too good to turn down.

The junior school settled into its new home, but last year – six years after it opened – it announced it was closing and relocating back to the senior campus. Sedbergh School headmaster Christopher Hirst told the Herald that it made more sense to be on one site. He said the reason for the move was that several buildings had become available at the senior site which had not been available in 2002.

It meant the Low Bentham site, extending to more than 13 acres and with buildings more than 300 years old, would be sold. The main building is a former rectory designed by architect Norman Shaw.

After news of the closure was broken, Bentham town councillor Thomas Marshall said he hoped North Yorkshire County Council would take over the site because its top-rate facilities would make it a superior location for a secondary school.

Other suggestions were that it could provide a home for the proposed joint primary school for High and Low Bentham. However, a spokesman for the local education authority said the site had been considered, but rejected because it was two or three miles away from where most children were living.

Last week, marketing agents Dacres Commercial advertised the site as having wide-ranging development potential and occupying a delightful rural setting. The site includes the former headmaster’s house in half an acre of garden, woodland, playing fields and a storage barn.

The establishment is offered as a whole or in individual lots and would be subject to planning permission for a change of use.

The guide states that it presents an excellent opportunity to acquire the site for retention in its existing form and with potential for redevelopment including offices, hotel accommodation or individual business and live/work units.

Christian Robb, on behalf of Dacres Commercial, said it was hard to put a guide price on the site.

“It is difficult because of its potential for different uses which are, of course, subject to the necessary planning permission, and that is what we will be discussing with potential purchasers. However, a basic guide price for the whole site is around £2 million,” he said.

The headmaster’s house is being offered with a price tag in the region of £350,000.