Old School House (Now Braithwell Darby And Joan Club And Wrvs Rooms)

The Old School House, now known as the Braithwell Darby and Joan Club and WRVS rooms, is a former school building dated 1693 and altered over time. It was founded by John Bosvile. The structure is made of irregularly-coursed limestone rubble and has a pantile roof. It is two storeys high with two bays, and there is a one-storey wing to the rear left. The building features rusticated ashlar quoins and a central door framed by a raised and chamfered ashlar surround. The flanking bays have later sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. On the first floor, there is a band beneath similar windows, and a central ashlar plaque inscribed with: 'In / Dei gloriam / Patriae Commodum / Hancce Scholam / Fundavit / Johan Bosvile / 1693'. The gable ends have shaped kneelers and roll-moulded copings, with rebuilt brick stacks at the ends. At the rear, the left side of the wing has 20th-century casement windows in ashlar surrounds on each floor, with the lower window now featuring a concrete lintel. The right return has a sundial set into the wall on the left, which includes an iron gnomen and a shield with lozenges and stars, along with a blocked ashlar window surround on the right. John Bosvile, a tanner from Wardsend in the Parish of Ecclesfield, provided a substantial endowment for the school, although it was later diminished due to fraud and mismanagement, as noted by E. Miller in "The History and Antiquities of Doncaster," published in 1804.