Cowick Church Of England Primary School And Adjoining School House

The Cowick Church of England Primary School and adjoining schoolhouse were built in 1853-4 by William Butterfield for William Henry Dawnay, seventh Viscount Downe. The construction was undertaken by Charles Ward of Lincoln. The building is red brick in English bond, with a Welsh slate roof, and later 19th and 20th century additions to the rear, all matching the original style and materials.

Originally designed in an F-shaped layout, the main east-west range includes an entrance hall, a schoolroom to the left, a two-room schoolhouse wing to the right, and an angled wing at the rear. Single-room additions were made to the schoolhouse, rear right, and to the school, rear left. The south front has a single-story schoolroom range and a single-story-and-attic schoolhouse with two windows. A 20th century half-glazed door, with a plain overlight and sidelight, sits beneath a soldier arch. A large half-dormer window with 6 panes is located to the left of the schoolroom, beneath a hipped roof, accompanied by a buttress with tumbled-in brick offsets. The schoolhouse to the right has a 20th century casement in an original opening with a soldier arch and a pointed relieving arch, and an attic casement in a gable end.

The steeply pitched roofs are a prominent feature. Small ventilators, a pair of lateral stacks to the rear of the schoolhouse (with tumbled-in brick to their offsets), and an axial stack to the rear left wing are also present. The left elevation features a pointed window with a chamfered ashlar sill and 20th century glazing bars, and a wing with paired 3-light windows with chamfered wood mullions, ashlar sills and lintels. An unsympathetic 20th century addition exists to the left. The right elevation, forming the east front, has a 20th century wooden trellised gabled porch over a half-glazed board door in a chamfered wood frame, beneath a soldier arch and pointed relieving arch.

Inside the schoolroom is an ashlar chimney-piece with a pointed chamfered arch, a panelled dado, and painted Downe arms within a square chamfered recess to the east end. The schoolhouse retains an original dogleg staircase and panelled doors in chamfered surrounds. The schoolhouse was empty and disused at the time of resurvey. The school is contemporary with the neighbouring church and vicarage, and shares similarities with schools at Hensall and Pollington. Cowick is noted as being the least altered of the three schools.