Former Foxton Board School And School Yard Perimeter Walls

Former Foxton Board School and School Yard Perimeter Walls

A board school built in 1875 by the Leicester architects RJ and J Goodacre, constructed by local contractor James Jennings for £650 on a site purchased for £40 on the banks of the canal following the establishment of Foxton School Board in June 1874.

The single-storey building is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with blue brick banding, set beneath slate roofs. It has a simple rectangular plan running north-south, containing the main teaching room, with a smaller infants' classroom extending at right angles from the east side and a corridor running along the north side of the infants' room.

The west elevation is defined by three bays separated by flat buttresses, each with one stone set-off, above a plinth with a blue-brick top splay. A blue-brick band runs around three sides at window sill level. The west-facing windows consist of two timber single-light top-hung casements to each bay, fitted with artificial stone sills and lintels. Above the lintels are three separate runs of moulded brick forming a cornice. Stone kneelers mark the gabled roof, which carries a central ventilator at the ridge.

The south return is lit by a three-light timber cross casement with an artificial stone lintel. Above this is an oculus with blue brick surround and glazing bars forming a Star of David pattern, and in the gable apex is a slit ventilating light positioned over an artificial stone band. The north return is similar but more elaborate: it features three top-hung single-light casements with a continuous artificial stone sill and lintel, and the Star of David oculus is set within a recessed curved triangle edged in blue brick. The slit ventilating light and stone band above mirror those on the south return. The roof slope develops as a catslide dropping over the main arched entrance doorway, which is fitted with a plank door featuring elaborate cross bracing on the inside.

The infants' room to the east is lower than the main building and also single-storey. Its south elevation has a single-light top-hung casement, and the east side has two similar windows, all positioned under pointed arches. An east-facing doorway under a pointed arch contains a door matching that on the north side. To the north return is a single-light casement under a square head. The angle between the infants' room and main block contains the rectangular plinth of a chimneystack.

The interior is accessed via a north doorway leading to a corridor paved with red and black floor tiles, which links the two rooms and connects with the east doorway. The corridor retains its complete original set of coat hooks. The roof structure incorporates half of a scissor-braced arrangement. Two internal cross-braced timber plank doors open into the infants' and senior rooms under depressed pointed arches.

The main room features two hammerbeam roof trusses rising from timber corbels, distinguished by pierced arched braces to the collars and further arched braces to the short hammerposts. The ceiling is boarded in scissor-braced form. Pine floorboards are laid throughout. Two depressed-arched doorways at the north end of the east wall open into the corridor and infants' room respectively, with elaborate cross-braced doors. A similar third door at the south end of the wall provides external access.

The infants' room has a scissor-braced roof of common rafters with boarding. A fireplace once stood in the south-west corner; although removed, the mantelshelf and hearth remain.

To the east of the school stands a slated single-storey toilet block shown on the 1886 Ordnance Survey map and forming part of the original construction. The east boundary wall attached to this block and the north wall are likewise original, both built in English-bond brick. The west boundary wall was constructed in the 1970s and is not of special architectural interest.

The school is an intact example of a small village board school, built in a single phase and entirely unextended and unaltered. It displays good detailing, particularly in its interior, including the hammerbeam roof in the main hall. As a board school of relatively early date outside London, it represents an important phase of educational development following the 1870 Education Act. The architects RJ Goodacre and J Goodacre are known for other listed buildings.

Foxton is a nucleated village mentioned in Domesday Book, situated on the Leicester branch of the Grand Union Canal, notable for its Grade II* listed staircase locks of 1812 and inclined-plane boat lift of 1900. The village population was 420 in 1801 and 284 in 1891. Before the board school's establishment, education in Foxton was provided by a subscription Sunday school and private day schools. A new larger school was constructed to the south in 1967, and the former board school subsequently became the Foxton Field Centre. This facility closed in 2007.