Davenham Church Of England Primary School

Davenham Church of England Primary School

A school and former schoolmaster's house dated 1856, commemorated by a datestone that records the founding of the school with funds given by Reverend Thomas France. The building is constructed in red Flemish bond brick with blue brick diapering and ashlar dressings, with a green slate roof and lead roof to the bellcote.

The structure comprises single and two-storey sections. The western front is dominated by a two-storey range that originally served as the schoolmaster's house. A projecting plinth with chamfered top runs across the entire building. A projecting gabled wing sits left of centre, featuring a projecting bay window to the ground floor with three lancet lights set within an ashlar surround. Above this is a hipped roof with lead flashings. The first floor contains a two-light window with an ashlar surround and a relieving arch composed of alternating blue and red brick voussoirs with diapering to the tympanum. The gable has ashlar kneelers and coping. To the left of the gabled wing is a doorway with a 20th-century lean-to porch, and further left is a three-light mullioned and transomed window with chamfered ashlar surround and cusped lights. A three-light first floor window above has chamfered mullions and an ashlar surround. To the right of the gabled wing stands another doorway with a 19th-century lean-to porch, topped by a half dormer window with two lights, an ashlar surround, blue and red brick voussoirs, and a half-hipped roof. Bands of diapering mark the springing levels of the ground floor windows and the sills of the first floor windows, features repeated across the building facade. Massive four-flue chimney stacks rise above the projecting wing, with two-flue stacks at the left hand gable end and to the ridge at the right.

The right hand reveal contains a gabled two-storey section on the left with a three-light ground floor window with chamfered ashlar surround. A similar two-light window to the first floor features a relieving arch with alternating blue and red brick voussoirs and diapering to the tympanum, with stone kneelers and coping to the gable. Adjoining this to the right is a gabled single-storey section containing a doorway at the left with a 20th-century lean-to porch on brackets, probably replacing a 19th-century original. A four-light tall window occupies the centre, with an ashlar surround, cusped lights and a quatrefoil to the apex. Above sits a relieving arch with brick voussoirs and decorated tympanum, with an ashlar hood-mould featuring label stops. The gable has ashlar coping and kneelers, surmounted by a bellcote supported by buttress pieces of ashlar with offsets and a semi-octagonal pillar resting on an angel corbel at the front. An octagonal spire rises above, topped with a wrought iron weather vane. To the right is a recessed section with a glazed porch, brick and ashlar lower wall, and a 20th-century replacement of glass and timber for the upper portion, with a three-light half-hipped dormer window above. Further right is a projecting gabled wing with a four-light tall window similar to that on the left, with ashlar kneelers and coping and a diapered pattern to the gable apex. A later lean-to porch door stands at the right of this section. A single-storey extension of orange brick with an outshut at ground floor level and a three-light hipped dormer window at first floor level extends further to the right.

The east front bears a datestone to the apex of the right hand gable.