Bolehill Primary School And Adjoining Boundary Wall And Shelter

Bole Hill Primary School, together with an adjoining boundary wall and shelter, was built in 1896. Later alterations occurred in the mid-20th century. Designed by WJ Hale for the Sheffield School Board, the building is constructed of rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings, and has gabled and hipped slate roofs. A prominent feature is the elaborate octagonal wooden bell turret, three stages high, with a swept lead roof and finial.

The main block has a first-floor band and sill band, with coped gables of varying forms. It is a two-storey building plus a basement, with a six-window range. A cross-wing is set to the right, with a stepped gable and finial. This wing has a large round-arched, four-light window with a keystone, and below, three glazing bar windows. To the left of the main block is a five-window range, with bays divided by buttresses rising to the eaves and topped with gables and niches. A larger, segment-headed central window is flanked by two smaller windows and above are three through-eaves dormers, each with a coped gable and tall round-headed windows with transoms. Single smaller windows are on either side, all featuring glazing bars. The basement has five segment-headed arches.

The left return has a hipped roof behind a flat-topped gable and an elliptical arched, four-light window with voussoirs and hoodmould, with three glazing bar windows below. The basement also has a segmental arch. A set-back entrance bay, three storeys high, is located to the right, with a cross-eaves dormer and a late 20th-century flat-roofed porch below. Single windows are on each floor. The hipped right return has largely reglazed fenestration, with four first-floor windows, and a through-eaves dormer above, flanked by single windows. Below, to the right, a hexagonal, single-storey projection has a swept coped parapet and three windows, adjacent to three further windows. The right return has an elliptical arched doorway with a glazing bar fanlight, panelled double doors, and a transom inscribed "Infants". A through-eaves dormer is situated above, with a single plain sash window and stepped gable with finial. A single window features on each floor.

The interior of the school has not been inspected.

A stone boundary wall, approximately 3 metres high, with triangular stone coping, runs along the rear of the property. Adjoining this is an open shelter with a hipped slate roof and cast-iron posts.

WJ Hale (1862-1929) was a pupil of Innocent & Brown, architects of Sheffield's earliest board schools. He established his own architectural practice in Sheffield in 1893 and was responsible for numerous noteworthy schools and Nonconformist churches.