Bolton First School

Bolton First School is a church school built around 1860, with some alterations and additions made in the 20th century. The building is constructed from rockfaced stone and features slate roofs with coped gables. It is designed in the Early English style, characterized by a chamfered plinth and quoins. The windows, which were boarded at the time of the survey, include stone mullions or tracery.

The school is a single-storey structure arranged in an L-shape. The front elevation has the school on the left and a house on the right. A recessed link connects the two, featuring a chamfered pointed arched door and a flat-headed three-light window above. The school gable on the left has a buttress and is flanked by two pointed arched windows with tracery, along with a roundel above. The left return includes an off-centre through-eaves dormer with a three-light pointed arched window with tracery, flanked by two flat-headed windows with shouldered openings, each containing three pointed arched lights. The rear gable has a three-light pointed arched window with tracery.

The side range of the school has a central dormer that has been altered to serve as a fire escape, with a two-light traceried window below. To the left are two windows, and to the right is a single window, all featuring two pointed arched lights. There is a door on the right side, and the rear gable has a three-light pointed arched window with cusped heads.

The school house has a flat-headed window on the ground floor and a stepped window above, which has three lights. The right return features a four-centred arched doorway with a window above it, and a flat-headed window to the right, which has two lights.

Inside, the main hall boasts a wagon-vaulted roof with exposed principal rafters supported by corbels. A smaller hall, which was divided horizontally in the mid-20th century, has a steep pitched principal rafter roof with corbels. Both halls feature matchboard dadoes, with the main hall containing a stage and the smaller hall having a panelled screen. The house includes two plain stone fireplaces.

The exterior is surrounded by a rockfaced stone boundary wall with gabled coping, enclosing a triangular site with a rounded corner. On the Bolton Lane side, there are two gateways with chamfered stone gatepiers topped with round heads and Celtic crosses.